The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Opposition to bill extending medical course

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 05, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Opposition to bill extending medical course

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Medical Students and Junior Doctors Fraternity on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to Governor Rameshwar Thakur requesting his intervention with regard to the Union Government’s move to table a Bill extending the duration of the medical course by a year.

Speaking to presspersons here on Tuesday, B.R. Abhijeet of Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubli, made it clear that “we are not against serving rural people, but against the extension of MBBS course duration by one year.”

Dr. Abhijeet said that when medical students in Tamil Nadu expressed their apprehensions during August-September 2007, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss appointed an expert committee headed by Sambhashiva Rao to look into this subject in detail. But even before the committee submitted its report, the Minister announced that the Bill would be introduced in the winter session of Parliament and would become operative for the batch completing its internship by March 2008.

Making this scheme a reality will mean an exodus of students from MBBS to other lucrative options and over time will lead to dilution of standards of doctors being produced. If the Bill comes into force, medical students and junior doctors would go on an indefinite strike, Dr. Abhijeet said.

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