Parliament Rejects Bridge Course Proposed By NMC

Parliament Rejects Bridge Course Proposed By NMC

The Parliamentary Standing Committee has rejected the Bridge course proposed by the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill that allows practitioners of alternative medicine to practice allopathy.

The NMC Bill 2017, that seeks to replace MCI, was moved to the Parliamentary Standing Committee owing to nationwide protest over various provisions of the bill.

The provision of Bridge course, that allows traditional medicine practitioners to practise allopathy, instigated strong opposition from medical fraternity.

Parliamentary Panel has rejected the bridge course stating “bridge courses should not be made a mandatory provision in the present Bill and the states should be allowed to enhance the capacity of AYUSH experts”.

Parliament recommendations:

The present draft NMC bill states that medical practitioners will be able to elect only 5 members. The panel opposed this provision stating that the replacement commission should have a higher elected component, demanding 9 out of 25 NMC members to be elected.
The panel recommends that all NMC members should declare in advance their conflict of interests as well as personal assets. This decision was taken to keep a check on corruption prevailing in MCI.
The panel recommends mandatory rural posting for all MBBS doctors and prescribing a period of compulsory working in the country for Indian medical graduates and postgraduates.

Source: Economic Times