The Manav Adhikar Surakshya Manch in its 100th Ghanta Yatra (cymbal beating rally) on Monday requested the President of India to revoke the National Medical Commission (NMC) Amendment Bill 2019, which was passed recently.
As per the bill, a national medical commission will be set up in place of Medical Council of India (MCI) that will have responsibilities such as approving and assessing medical colleges, conducting common MBBS entrance and exit examinations and regulating medical course fees.
The Manch said that according to the bill, the Commission may grant limited licence to practise medicine at mid-level as Community Health Provider to such person connected with modern scientific medical profession who qualifies the criteria specified by the regulations.
The body opposed stating that it would encourage quackery by providing licence to practice modern medicine as community health providers for persons other than those possessing MBBS degrees.
The bill also proposes a common final-year MBBS examination, to be known as the National Exit Test (NEXT), for admission to post-graduate medical courses and for obtaining a licence to practise medicine. It would also act as a screening test for foreign medical graduates.
The members said there was no clarity over introduction of the National Exit Test (NEXT) and scrapping the NEET-PG. They also opposed decreasing the percentage of seats under controlled fees structure in private medical colleges and deemed universities from 85% to 50%, reducing representation of elected members from 75% in MCI to 20% in National Medical Commission and autonomous boards constituted there-under.