Hundreds of students from the Osmania Medical College in Hyderabad protested on Monday, against the Telangana government's decision to impart training to registered medical practitioners (RMP) and private medical practitioners (PMP) in the state.
The students said that they had to work hard for four and a half years, and then another year, to get a basic degree, while specialisation would take even longer.
“We work hard to earn a degree, while those less qualified practise in villages. They are now going to receive training and certificates. This is not fair. They will claim that they are qualified doctors with the government certificate,” Dr G. Srinivas, a senior resident doctor was quoted as saying.
“A majority of RMPs are misusing this certificate by putting ‘Dr’ in front if their names. They even claim that this certificate allows them to treat, which is totally false. They are not supposed to prescribe but at present they are even prescribing scheduled drugs, which only a qualified practitioner should do,” a Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA) member told mediapersons.
Protesting against Government Order (GO) 428, which proposed the regularisation of RMPs and PMPs, the students alleged that many of the rural practitioners were prescribing 'Schedule' medicines and claiming to be doctors.
"They are even prescribing unwanted and unnecessary schedule medicines which are leading to chronic ailments and even deaths of poor and uninformed rural people. Hence we request you to cancel G.O. 428," the students wrote in a letter to Telangana Health Minister C Laxma Reddy.
"Practicing medicine without recognized qualification is a quackery and such encouragment of quackery will lead to a unhealthy policy," the letter states.
(An effigy was also burnt at the Government General Hospital in Nizamabad)
The students also pointed out that according to the 2014-15 Rural Health Statistics issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, there was a 41% shortfall of Community Health Centres (CHCs) and 13% shortfall of Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs).
"Rather than encouraging quacks by training and issuing certificates, which could result in misuse of such official training and lead to hazardous health effects on poor rural people, improving infrastructure in Rural Health Sector along with recruitment of qualified health professionals will benefit the rural people and a healthy Telangana can be achieved," the letter sent by the students concludes.