NMC Bill: Safdarjung doctors to resume services

Resident doctors of Safdarjung Hospital here are set to resume duties on Monday after calling off at midnight, their strike opposing the newly introduced National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill.

The doctors conveyed their decision to call off their strike to the medical superintendent of the hospital after a meeting held on August 4 chaired by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Chairman of Special Secretary, Sanjeeva Kumar.

An email received by the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) president Prakash Thakur by MOHFW Additional Secretary Arun Singhal, stated: "The NMC would follow a consultative process while drafting regulations to implement these proposals. Government will ask the NMC, when it is constituted, Safdarjung Hospital RDA and SWA and other RDAs and SWAs and other professional bodies of the medical profession before finalising the regulations".

"...RDA and SWA, VMMC and SJH decided to call off their strike in the best interests of patients and nation," it added.

Yesterday, resident doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) also called off their four-day-long strike against the NMC Bill.

The agitation was called off after the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan assured them that the Bill is in the interest of doctors, medical students, patients as well as the ordinary people.

A delegation of AIIMS' Resident Doctors Association met the minister and shared their concerns over certain provisions of the Bill.

After the minister clarified their doubts and misunderstanding pertaining to the Bill, the executive committee of RDA-AIIMS decided to resume all services with immediate effect.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) and United Resident Doctors Association (URDA) were protesting against the NMC Bill, which has been passed by both the Houses of Parliament.

Healthcare services were badly affected due to the strike in the national capital with thousands of patients turning away in despair.

Doctors had expressed concerns over ambiguity in some of the provisions of the Bill including uncertainty over NEET-PG and concept of community health providers.