The medical care services in government hospitals in Delhi ~ including the AIIMS, Safdarjung and RML hospitals ~ are likely to be severely disrupted on Thursday as resident doctors have threatened to go on an indefinite strike, including withdrawal of emergency services from 1 August to protest against the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill.

The NMC Bill, which seeks to replace the existing Medical Council of India (MCI) with the proposed National Medical Commission, is slated to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha today after the Lok Sabha passed it on 29 July.

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The Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA), Resident Doctors Association (RDA) of AIIMS Delhi, and United RDA are going on strike from today demanding amendments of certain provisions in this Bill.

“We are going on an indefinite strike from today withdrawing all medical services against the Bill being tabled in Rajya Sabha in its present form,” said Dr Amrinder Singh Malhi, AIIMS RDA president.

“Resident doctors will refrain from working in the OPDs, emergency departments and ICUs as a mark of protest on Thursday and the strike will continue for an indefinite period if the Bill is tabled and passed in the Rajya Sabha,” Dr Sumedh Sandanshiv, FORDA president, reportedly said, alleging that the Bill was “anti-poor, anti-student and undemocratic”.

Their proposed indefinite strike would be observed across the country.

The RDAs of the AIIMS, RML and some other hospitals are said to have given separate notices to their administration regarding the proposed strike. Meanwhile, their agitation against the Bill reportedly continued at various hospitals as doctors wore black badges to work as a mark of protest.

Warning the Narendra Modi government of doctors’ intensified agitation against the NMC Bill, Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Dr Santanu Sen said that the IMA’s call for the withdrawal of non-essential medical services against the Bill today was “successful” and would only be stepped up by the entire medical fraternity across the country.

“Medical students across the country continued their agitation resorting to hunger strike, boycotting of classes and marches to Raj Bhavans. They will continue their agitation tomorrow with more intensity,” Dr Sen warned the Modi government.

The IMA has been up in arms against the NMC Bill, charging that it is “anti-poor, anti-people and draconian”. The IMA and agitating doctors have maintained that the Bill will only boost quacks in rural areas.

“Section 32 of the NMC Bill provides for licencing of 3.5 lakh unqualified non-medical persons to practise modern medicine. The term community health provider has been vaguely defined to allow anyone connected with modern medicine to get registered in NMC and be licensed to practice modern medicine. This will only legalise quackery and endanger the lives of people,” RV Ashokan, IMA secretary general, reportedly said.

The IMA also said, “This would mean that all paramedics including pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists, optometrists and others will become eligible to practise modern medicine and prescribe independently. This law legalises quackery”.

The FORDA and the AIIMS RDA have demanded that the central government must incorporate certain amendments in the Bill in public interest, maintaining that if not amended, the Bill would allegedly lead to deterioration of medical education and degradation of healthcare services in the country.

More than 5000 doctors, medical students and healthcare professionals from across the country had staged a protest here on 29 July against the NMC Bill following a call given by the IMA.