Lok Sabha sends national medical commission bill to Parliament committee

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday sent a contentious bill, which seeks to overhaul medical education and replace the Medical Council of India, to a standing committee and asked it to submit its report before the budget session.

The bill had triggered wide protests from doctors whose apex body IMA had called for a strike today.

Making a statement in the House, parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said various parties, including those from the opposition and the ruling NDA, had wanted the bill to be sent to the standing committee and the government has agreed to this.

He, however, requested Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to ask the committee to submit its report before the budget session, which is expected to start by this month end, as a new law has to be brought at the earliest, following an order of the Supreme Court and a standing committee report.Following this, Mahajan made a brief statement and sought that the report of the standing committee be tabled before the budget session.

Normally, committees are given a period of three months but there was already one standing committee report on the matter, she noted.Health minister J P Nadda had introduced the bill in the House last Friday amid protests from Congress members, who had demanded that the bill be sent to the standing committee.

The Indian Medical Association had strongly opposed the bill, saying it will "cripple" the functioning of medical professionals by making them answerable to the bureaucracy and non-medical administrators.

It had declared today as a "Black Day" and given a call for strike. It, however, called it off after the bill was sent to the committee.