IMA doctor’s strike: SC refuses to stay doctors’ protest
The Supreme Court refused to stay the IMA’s nationwide
strike today. The main reason for the protest is the decision to
dissolve the Medical Council of India (MCI) and other paramedical bodies like
the Nursing Council of India and the Dental Council of India and the formation
of National Council for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH) for
the strike. The doctors fear the NCHRH will be governed by bureaucrats instead
of doctors and this will lead to vested interests.
A bench of justices H L Gokhale and Gyan Sudha Misra,
however, hoped the doctors would desist from going ahead with the proposed
strike in the interest of the general public. The apex court felt that it was
too late to stay the strike as it would be difficult to ensure compliance but
issued notice to the Centre on the petitioners’ plea that the doctors going on
strike would be illegal and unconstitutional. The apex court also asked senior
counsel T S Dhobia, appearing for the Centre, as to why the government failed
to take any preventive steps despite the petitioners making a representation to
it. “Why don’t you respond. They (petitioners) had earlier made a
representation for preventing the strike. You could have acted,” the bench
observed.
The Centre’s counsel merely stated that the strike was
impermissible and the government was not in favour of it. The apex court was
hearing a petition by an NGO, People for Better Treatment (PBT), opposing the
doctors’ strike and seeking it to be declared as illegal. PBT has submitted to
the apex court that the proposed strike violates, apart from the Hippocrates
Oath, several other provisions in the Medical Council of India (MCI).
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had called the strike
to protest against the Union government’s decision to set up a National
Commission for Health and other policy decisions affecting the medical
profession The government has also proposed some amendments in laws related to
clinical establishment and private practice which is being resented by doctors.
The People for Better Treatment submitted in its petition
that the proposed strike also violates medical principles like those of the
“Code of Ethics and Regulations”, “Maintaining good medical practice”,
“Obligation to the sick” and “The patient must not be neglected.” The PBT said
the past experiences show that the doctors’ strike has proved disastrous for
the poor and the needy patients. It had urged the apex court to issue a
direction to the Centre to hold that any call for “doctors’ strike” should be
held as unethical, immoral and against the law. It further wanted disciplinary
steps to be initiated against those breaching ethics and law.
Source: http://health.india.com 26.06.2012
Smoking fathers’ genes could increase
cancer risk in their children
Smoking has actually been proven
to damage the DNA. British researchers at the University of Bradford have now
found that these damaged genes could be passed on to their children while
raising risk of cancer, particularly leukemia, among them.
Because a fertile sperm cell
takes three months to fully develop, fathers should kick the habit 12 weeks
ahead of conceiving to avoid the risk, said Diana Anderson of the university of
Bradford.
“Smoking by fathers at the time
around conception can lead to genetic changes in their children. These changes
may raise the risk of developing cancer,” she added.
Meanwhile, scientists at the
University of Glasgow have found that the men drinking lots of tea are far more
likely to develop prostate cancer. They found that those who drank seven or
more cups a day had a 50 percent higher risk of contracting the disease than
men who had three or fewer cups.
The warning comes after
researchers tracked the health of over 6,000 men for over four decades.
The latest findings contradict a
previous research, which suggested that drinking tea lowers the risk of cancer,
as well as heart disease, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.
Source: http://health.india.com
26.06.2012
Nothing great
was ever achieved without enthusiasm
No comments:
Post a Comment