Bridge course should not be made mandatory: Parliamentary panel

New Delhi : Bridge course should not be made mandatory to promote medical pluralism, fees should be regulated for 50 per cent seats in private medical colleges and a common database should be created for all human resource working in the healthcare sector, as per a Parliamentary panel about the National Medical Commission Bill, 2017.

"The Committee is of the view that the bridge course should not be made a mandatory provision in Clause 49 in the present Bill," the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare said in its report presented in both the Houses of the Parliament on Tuesday.

The National Medical Commission Bill, which aims to replace the Medical Council of India with a commission, allows practitioners of alternative medicines such as ayush, homeopathy, and siddha to practise modern medicine after taking a "bridge" course.

"However, the Committee appreciates the need to build the capacity of the existing human resources in the healthcare sector, to address the shortage of healthcare professionals so as to achieve the objectives of the National Health Policy, 2017," the report said.

Noting that every state has its own specific healthcare issues and challenges, the Committee, said it therefore recommends that the state governments may implement measures to enhance the capacity of the existing healthcare professionals including Ayush practitioners, B.Sc (Nursing), BDS, B.Pharma etc to address their state specific primary healthcare issues in the rural areas.

The panel headed by Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav recommended the total strength of the Commission be increased from 25 to 29 members keeping in view the representative and federal character of the country.

Among its other recommendations on the proposed legislation, the panel said fees in all unregulated private medical colleges, the deemed universities and the deemed-to-be universities should be regulated at least for 50 per cent of their seats.

Observing that the "exorbitant monetary penalty" for any violation by any medical institution introduced in the system "provides for discretionary misuse", the panel recommended replacing all three provisions of Clause 26(f) with an alternative provision.

Further, the panel noted that there is no specific data regarding the availability of doctors, nurses, para-medical staffs, mid level healthcare workers and other allied professionals.

"Without this data it is extremely difficult to have a long term planning to manage this human resource component which is a critical to achieve the stated targets of health and wellness centres across the country by the government," said the panel and suggested creation of a common database of all human resource working in the healthcare sector including the para-medical staff and nurses.

The panel also recommended requirement of adequate hospital facilities providing clinical services for at least three years before applying for setting up a new medical college to come out with better trained doctors.