Doctors from across the country are expected to be agitating on Tuesday under the Indian Medical Association's banner of "Dilli Chalo", over several issues that have been of concern to the community, lately.
Representative image | Reuters
Some of the issues that doctors are protesting against include criminal prosecution over medical negligence and clerical errors, demanding professional autonomy in deciding the line of treatment, writing prescriptions and a stringent central act against rising cases of violence against doctors. According to Dr K.K. Aggarwal, president of IMA, there's a need for amendment in the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994, so that doctors are not prosecuted for things such as not wearing apron, and not filling a particular detail in a form.
One of the other issues that has been causing concern to doctors, says Aggarwal, is the fact that with the government's emphasis on generic prescriptions, doctors' autonomy in writing prescriptions is being threatened. Since it is the government that regulates prices of medicines—and not doctors—Aggarwal says that it is imperative that a one drug-one molecule-one price policy is introduced.
The agitating doctors would also be raising the issue of violence against their fraternity, and demanding a central law to curb the menace. Recently, doctors in Mumbai struck work for the same reason, and their counterparts in AIIMS wore helmets to raise awareness. Other issues include protesting against the formation of the National Medical Council, and a central law against quacks.
Apart from the strike at Rajghat, there will also be a "pen down satyagraha"—where doctors across the country will not write any prescriptions for an hour between 10 am and 11 am. The IMA is anticipating the strike to be one of the largest agitations by doctors in recent times.
