IMA opposes rural health course of govt

Rourkela (Orissa), Feb, 21 (PTI) Orissa unit of theIndian Medical Association (IMA) has opposed the proposedintroduction of Bachelor of Rural Health Care (BRHC) by theCentre, saying it would increase the number of quacks.

"If the government desires to increase the number ofdoctors, they can do it by increasing the number ofundergraduate seats in medical colleges by relaxing theMedical Council of India (MCI) norms", outgoing president ofOrissa unit of IMA Dr Sarat Kumar Mohapatra said here.

Addressing the 62nd annual state conference of IMAhere yesterday, Mohapatra said the programme of BRHC should beopposed as it would not not provide quality medical serviceand the standard of doctors would go down.

A meeting of Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azadand state health ministers in Hyderabad last month hadendorsed the introduction of the Bachelor of Rural Health Care(BRHC) courses.

Mohapatra also advocated for having a single windowcounter for registration of Nursing Homes and Clinics inOrissa for quick disposal of pending cases.

He appealed to the members to help the government stopsex determination of child.

The conference honoured Dr Jugal Kishore Nanda ofCuttack with life time achievement award for his contributionto IMA and Dr Purna Chandra Mohapatra for becoming All IndiaPresident of Gynaecology Association.