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At
a time, when the medical profession is facing its darkest hour, it is having to
deal with another blow in the form of the National Medical Commission (NMC)
Bill approved by the Union Cabinet in December last year.
The
Bill proposes replacing the IMC Act 1956 with a new Act – NMC and replacing the
Medical Council of India (MCI), the current statutory regulatory body with a
new body, the National Medical Commission (NMC).
Besides
being anti-poor and anti-people, the Bill is non-representative as there is no
representation of doctors from every state. The bill is undemocratic as
only about 10% members of the proposed commission would be elected, the
remaining 90% would be nominated by the central govt. Moreover, the Bill gives
the Central govt. wide ranging powers to dissolve the commission or even
supersede the commission. And, the
decision of the Central Govt. would be final and is not open for any require of
any type.
The
Bill has recommended formation of four Boards to regulate undergraduate and
postgraduate medical education, accreditation and assessment of institutions
and regulation of the practice of the profession as independent and autonomous
bodies. However, these so-called ‘autonomous’ bodies will be under the direct
control of the NMC and by
proxy, the government, as it is the commission which would have
regulatory as well as directional powers and the board members would be
nominated by the central Govt.
Consequently, the medical profession will be
divested of it democratic manner of functioning and instead made
completely answerable to the bureaucracy.
Explaining the underlying rationale to the proposed changes in
regulation, the Bill says that “principle
of the “regulated” electing the “regulator” is flawed and creates a conflict of
interest, therefore MCI should be discarded”. “It creates an ab-initio conflict of interest and therefore
this system must be discarded in favour of one based on search and selection.
Regulators of highest standards of professional integrity and excellence must
be appointed through an independent and a transparent selection process by a
broad based Search cum Selection Committee.”
A
professional person is not just a medical professional. English dictionary
defines a professional as a “person formally certified by a professional body
of belonging to a specific profession by virtue of having completed a required
course of studies and/or practice. And whose competence can usually be measured
against an established set of standards.” (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/professional.html)
This rationale therefore can also
be applied to
all non-medical professional organizations and bodies including that of
lawyers, chartered accountants etc.
In
its judgement in Jacob Mathew vs State of Punjab & Anr on 5 August, 2005,
the Supreme Court of India had taken a similar view when it said, “In the law of
negligence, professionals such as lawyers, doctors, architects and others are
included in the category of persons professing some special skill or skilled
persons generally. Any task which is required to be performed with a special
skill would generally be admitted or undertaken to be performed only if the
person possesses the requisite skill for performing that task.
Any
reasonable man entering into a profession which requires a particular level of
learning to be called a professional of that branch, impliedly assures the
person dealing with him that the skill which he professes to possess shall be
exercised and exercised with reasonable degree of care and caution. He does not
assure his client of the result.
A
lawyer does not tell his client that the client shall win the case in all
circumstances.
A physician would not assure the patient of full recovery in every case. A
surgeon cannot and does not guarantee that the result of surgery would
invariably be beneficial, much less to the extent of 100% for the person
operated on.
The
only assurance which such a professional can give or can be understood to have
given by implication is that he is possessed of the requisite skill in that
branch of profession which he is practising and while undertaking the performance
of the task entrusted to him he would be exercising his skill with reasonable
competence.”
The
medical profession is on the verge of losing its professional autonomy and be
controlled by the govt.
All
non medical professional associations such as Bar Association of India,
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India should stand by
IMA in its fight to retain professional autonomy for the medical fraternity and
also against the anti-poor and anti-people provisions of the NMC Bill as they
too could be in a similar situation anytime in the future.
Related links
General public should join hands with
IMA in its fight against NMC
IMA Mahapanchayat on 25th March at Delhi: https://emedinexus.com/post/4048
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