IMA bats for IAS-like all-India medical services

Speaking to ETV Bharat, IMA president Dr JA Jayalal welcomed the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee to form an Indian Medical Service based cadre system in the line of IAS and IPS.

New Delhi: Indian Medical Association's (IMA's) demand to form an Indian Medical Service based cadre system in the line with India' civil services, got a shot in the arm when a Parliamentary Committee on Health and Family Welfare recommended the creation of an All India Medical Service.

"We welcome the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee. We believe forming a separate cadre of Indian Medical Service (IMS) will have lasting positive effects on the development and progress of the country's health care. IMS can well be defined as positive yield of the dreaded pandemic in the real sense," said IMA president Dr JA Jayalal to ETV Bharat on Tuesday in an exclusive interview.

The Parliamentary Committee on Health and Family Welfare headed by Rajya Sabha MP and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ram Gopal Yadav in its 126th report on demands for grants recommended for the creation of an All India Medical Service in line with other civil services.

The committee feels that Indian Medical Service would provide efficient healthcare managers to enhance the success rate of healthcare projects and make policy programmes and specific course of action for fighting against lethal diseases.

"The committee, keeping in view the incredible role of corona warriors during combating the vicissitude of coronavirus, is of the view that the moment is the golden opportunity to explore the possibility of organising Indian Medical Services in order to create a specialised task force for implementation of the flagship programme relating to health," the committee said in its report.

IMA president Dr Jayalal said that a study group was earlier constituted by the former president of the then Medical Council of India under the chairmanship of Dr Vedprakash Mishra in regard to making analytical recommendations with respect to the rejuvenation of the Indian Medical Service.

The IMA has also recently submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging for the formation of IMS in the line of IAS, IAS and IFS.

Significantly, the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) has also recommended the formation of an IMS cadre.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Committee has also suggested to the health ministry to explore the scope for integrated medicine course to contain the good medical practices of allopathy, homoeopathy, Ayurveda and other streams of the Indian System of medicine.

"The committee believes that each system of medicine encompasses the certain meritorious principle of treatment of disease...The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and it's management has highlighted the relative strength of each system of medicine, including Ayush in enhancing the immune system of guard against the infection from coronavirus," the committee said in its report.

In fact, Niti Aayog has already taken the initiative of exploring the possibility of an integrated system of medicines.