Bill to replace Medical Council to benefit profession, says govt

The government on Tuesday maintained that the National Medical Commission Bill that seeks to replace Medical Council of India with a new body would be beneficial to the medical profession.

On a day when the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for suspending routine services for 12 hours in protest against the bill, Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said talks were on with the IMA to clear their doubts.

"This is beneficial to the medical profession," he said in the Rajya Sabha after members raised the issue of strike by the doctors across the country against the bill.

He said talks with the striking doctors were going on. "Talks are on. We have heard them and also presented our views."

Besides seeking to replace the Medical Council of India with a new body, the bill also proposes to allow alternative medicine graduates to practise allopathy after completing a "bridge course".

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) says the bill will "cripple" the functioning of medical professionals by making them completely answerable to the bureaucracy and non-medical administrators.

Nadda had held talks were held with IMA members on Monday to clear doubts about the bill.

Earlier, raising the issue, Naresh Agarwal (Samajwadi Party) said many patients have died due to the strike called to oppose the Bill that will enable superseding of the elected medical professionals' body.

Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government should take initiative to end the strike.