Photos: Doctors’ national strike against NMC Bill hits medical services

Healthcare services at government hospitals in Delhi including AIIMS, have been severely hit on Thursday as resident and junior doctors withdrew all services in protest against the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill, which is being presented today in the Rajya Sabha by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. This 24-hour nationwide strike called for by the Resident Doctors Association (RDA), follows Wednesday’s day-long strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA). The IMA and RDA have expressed reservations over several sections of the NMC which they say will adversely impact medical education, promote quackery and incompetence and deteriorate the state of healthcare in the country.

Updated on: Aug 01, 2019 1:58 PM IST

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Resident and junior doctors march against the National Medical Commission (NMC) bill near AIIMS flyover in New Delhi on August 1, 2019. The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) observing a one-day strike across the nation on Thursday follows yesterday’s 24-hour national strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) which hit non-essential medical services at private hospitals, nursing homes and some state-run hospitals. (Amal KS / HT Photo)

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Junior doctors and medical students hold placards as they protest against the NMC Bill, in Thane district, Mahrashtra on Wednesday. On July 29, the Lok Sabha had passed the NMC Bill which seeks to create National Medical Commission in place of Medical Council of India (MCI). It provides for the repeal of the Indian Medical Council Act 1956. (PTI)

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A patient is wheeled past student doctors of Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College Hospital protesting in Kolkata, West Bengal on Wednesday. The medical fraternity is anguished that the Union health minister, instead of including key recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, replaced many provisions with clauses “detrimental” to doctors. The fraternity claims that the bill will encourage quackery. (Samir Jana / HT Photo)

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Medical students of King George's Medical University (KGMU) in protest on Wednesday. While alleging that many clauses such as Mid-level practitioner or bridge courses are not acceptable to all the doctors in the country, protesters termed the bill ‘anti-student’ and ‘anti-poor’. According to them, if not amended, the bill will lead to deterioration of medical education and degradation of healthcare services. (ANI)

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Doctors and students from IMA stage a protest outside Super Specialty Hospital of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, Jharkhand on Wednesday. Besides other clauses, there are objections to section 45 of the bill, which, protestors claim, empowers the Union government to override any suggestion of the National Medical Commission. (PTI)

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Resident and junior doctors protesting against the NMC bill at AIIMS hospital on Thursday. The IMA also opposes the decision to introduce a common final-year MBBS examination, to be known as the National Exit Test (NEXT), by scrapping the NEET-PG and regulation of fees by the NMC for 50% seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities. (Amal KS / HT Photo)

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Patients gather outside the shut New OPD Block at Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi during Thursday’s strike against the Lok Sabha passage of the NMC Bill which has nearly 20,000 resident doctors and students striking. The bill is the biggest reform in medical education in the past two or three decades, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday where the bill is under consideration. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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Adhering to IMA’s call yesterday, boycotting non-essential services, doctors had stayed away from providing services just at OPDs. Healthcare services however at AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital and the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi are reportedly hit severely under today’s RDA strike with all services including emergency services having been withdrawn. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

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Doctors sit in protest at Government Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, Telangana on Wednesday. New Delhi’s AIIMS and Safdarjung in particular, receive thousands of patients from all over the country daily. “If the Bill gets passed in the Rajya Sabha, we will intensify our protests,” said Prakash Thakur of the RDA at Safdarjung Hospital. The IMA has termed the Bill “draconian” and “anti-people”. (Mahesh Kumar A. / AP)