Letters to the Editor

NMC Bill and Medical Education

The introduction of tiol Eligbility Cum Entrance Test (NEET), an all India entrance exam for admission to MBBS courses in India, has been one of the biggest reforms in medical education the country has witnessed since 1956 when the Indian Medical Council Act was ected.

The tiol Medical Commission (NMC) Bill which seeks to replace the existing Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 has imbibed NEET. It replaces multiple MBBS entrance exams conducted  by State universities and authorities, thus providing a level playing field to aspirants across the board, irrespective of educatiol or social background. This was exemplified in the NEET-UG 2017 results when vdeep Singh, son of a Government school teacher from Charwan village of Mukteshwar, topped the MBBS entrance exams. Singh fulfilled the vision that children of modest upbringing are no lesser mortals and deserve a chance.

Next (tiol Exit Test), an exit or licentiate exam that all medical graduates will have to clear to practise, is also part of the new bill. It will be treated as an entrance exam for post-graduate courses. The NMC has, however, ignored the principle of strengthening the profession driven self regulation. It has faltered by placing absolute authority in the hands of a chosen few.

It is possible that in the near future NMC will  be subservient to the Health Ministry, given that the representation of the medical profession in the new regulatory framework is minimal. The NMC bill diserectly intends to equate the post graduate drees given by MCI or NMC and the tiol Board of Examition (NBE), which is unjustified too.

It is well known that doctors in private practice have limited time and exposure to teaching and research. Equating the two degrees would do disservice to the profession. Why would a teacher stay in a Government run medical college if he or she can earn five times more and still be desigted as a professor? It woud be advisable if some serious thought is given before the burial of Government run medical colleges starts.

The medical professiols needs to give a commitment to abide by regulation and assure a sense of duty and responsibility. Healthcare should not be treated as any other industry but as a unique compassiote and duty-sensitive service profider. It would be hard for NMC or any such initiative to succeed till the common man given a doctor his worth and puts him on a higher pedestal. After all, society does need good doctors.

Satish Kumar Sarma,

Kalyanpur,

Biswath Chariali.

Stalling Drama

After being routed in the recent assembly elections in three North-eastern states, the Congress and the leftists seem to be rudderless. They are trying to make their presence felt before the tion. Less said the better about communist party as they have become a nonentity. However hard they try to beat the drums, people are least interested. So both the parties have now started their old game of stalling the Parliament least realising that it impacts the tion’s exchequer. The ultimate sufferer is none other than the public. The opposition parties should remember that by holding such dramas in Parliament they cannot fool the public for all time.

Joel Daimary,

Boko, Assam.

Toppling of Lenin’s Statue

The post-poll violence in Tripura where both the saffron party and the left-brigade are engaged in mud-slinging, blaming each other for the clashes perpetrated by their supporters, is quite uncalled for. The saffron party which got clear mandate in Tripura polls with the popular slogan "Chalo Paltai" has enforced it literally after their victory in the incident of toppling of statue of communist patriarch VI Lenin with the saffron brigade seen to be chanting “Bharat Mata ki jai". The intolerance of such height, jolts the faith of a common man in a democracy.

The statue of Lenin, whose idealism has ruled Tripura for 25 years,  has architecture and historical importance and should have been  re-located in museums or alleys with statues of other historic persons rather than toppling it down in public glare.

Shajid Khan,

Tangla College,Tangla.