HYDERABAD: City doctors will take part in a maha panchayat in Delhi on Sunday to protest âwrong policiesâ of the government. The protesting doctors demanded an overhaul of a mandate requiring students graduating from government medical colleges to serve a minimum period before heading to foreign shores, as well as changes to policies of the Dental Council of India, nursing council and other councils.
Campaigns and hunger strikes by doctors associated with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) were held in lastfew weeks across the country. Local doctors went on a dawn-to-dusk hunger strike at Osmania Medical College in Koti and other locations, demanding that a sitingent Act be put in place to save doctors from physical assaults, and wanted a cap on compensation under the Consumer Protection Act in cases related to doctors. They also wanted single-window registration for doctors and medical establishments.
They also demanded that provisions in healthcare regulations be made to identify different cases of medical errors and negligence, adding that clerical errors and minor non-compliance should not attract criminal provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act.
âPCPNDT Act is a medical solution for a socio-economic problem. Without also solving socio-economic reasons behind female foeticide/infanticide, proper male-female ratio cannot be maintained,â said a doctor heading for the protest.
