IMA protest call: Pvt health services in Goa may hit tomorrow

Healthcare services in private hospitals in Goa are likely to remain affected tomorrow as the Goa unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) today decided to join a protest called against a bill seeking to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) with a new body.
Due to the protest, Out Patient Department (OPD) services across 140-odd private hospitals in the coastal state are likely to remain affected.
However, the healthcare services in government hospitals will continue as usual.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill, which was tabled in Parliament on Friday, seeks to replace the MCI and also proposes allowing practitioners of alternative medicines, such as homoeopathy and ayurveda, practise allopathy after completing a "bridge course".

The Bill is likely to come up for discussion in Parliament tomorrow.
"The emergency and casualty services in all the 140-odd private hospitals, however, will remain open during the protest," said Dr Ajay Pednekar, the Goa unit president of the IMA.

OPDs in private hospitals will not work between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow to protest against the "undemocratic, anti-poor, non-representative and anti-federal" bill, the IMA said, adding that emergency and critical care services are exempted from the protest.
However, the services in state-run hospitals, includingthe Goa Medical College, would remain unaffected as the Goa Association of Resident Doctors (GARD) have decided against shutting down OPDs.

Dr Pednekar said doctors would observe January 2 as the "Black Day" in protest against the NMC bill.
He said the IMA has decided to submit a memorandum against the bill to elected representatives including Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar tomorrow.
Dr Pednekar said NMC is a pro-private management bill "which will pave the way for widespread corruption".
"It removes all the regulations before starting a medical college. No one needs any permission," Dr Pednekar said.
Meanwhile, GARD president Dr Akshay Naik said the state-run Goa Medical College and other hospitals will continue to function as usual tomorrow.
"We are giving moral support to the strike as we agree that NMC Bill is not in the favour of the medical profession. But since we are in the government set up and since we don't want to put patients to inconvenience, we have decided not to shut down the OPDs," he said.