The Gujarat chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has joined the apex body in calling a doctors' strike on June 25 across the state.
The strike is part of a nationwide stir called by the IMA, that is opposing the dissolution of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and introduction of Bachelor of Rural Health Care (BRHC) course among other issues. The association is also opposing the National Commission for Human Resources for Health Bill, 2011.
Jignesh C Shah, secretary of the Ahmedabad Medical Association (AMA), a wing of the IMA, said that the bill will create an organisation that supersedes the now-defunct MCI and all other paramedical councils. "Bureaucrats and persons nominated by the government would then govern the council and it would not be run by elected representatives from among the members of the medical profession", he added.
The AMA is also against the Clinical Establishments Act, which was introduced as a Bill in 2010 to regulate private hospitals and clinics. The AMA has around 7,000 members while the Gujarat Medical Association has close to 25,000 members. The AMA claimed that not only allopathic doctors supported the cause, but the association also had the support of dentists as well as ayurvedic and homeopathic practitioners.
Bipin Patel, a senior official of the AMA informed that all in-patient as well as emergency services will run on the day of the strike, only out-patient services and planned surgeries would not be performed.