Call for Papers: NUJS-DKF National Seminar on National Medical Commission Bill [March 17, Kolkata]: Submit by Feb 20

Medical profession, being viewed as the noblest profession, has been largely governed by self regulation over the years. Though the Medical Council of India and respective State Medical Councils have come up to regulate medical education and practice of medicine, hospitals and medical practitioners were still vested with good amount of discretion in various aspects medicine.
However, of late there has been expression of concerns by the public on the misuse of self regulation of medicine. This prompted an investigation into the need for changes in the regulation of medical education and profession.
A thorough review of the prevailing situation was done by a Committee established by NITI Aayog in 2016, resulting in the drafting of National Medical Commission Bill 2017.
The National Medical Commission Bill 2017 was introduced in the Loksabha on 29 December 2017. According to its statement of objects and reasons, the Law seeks to
(i) provide for a medical education system that ensures availability of adequate and high quality medical professionals;
(ii) encourage medical professionals to adopt latest medical research in their work and to contribute to research
(iii) ensure that there is an objective periodic assessment of medical institutions and facilitates
(iv) establish and maintain a medical register for India
(v) enforce high ethical standards in all aspects of medical services; and
(vi) provide a regulatory system that is  flexible to adapt to changing needs and has an effective grievance redressal mechanism.
To achieve these ends, the proposed law seeks to repeal the six decades old Medical Council of India Act and to replace the regulatory system that existed under that Act with a radically new system. The new system that the Bill proposes will alter all aspects of medical education, practice and regulation as we know it.
For instance, the Bill seeks to alter the centuries old practice of self regulation of medical profession and replace it with tighter bureaucratic and state controlled mechanisms of regulation. Controversially, the Bill seeks to open up avenues for persons who are not trained in “modern-allopathic” systems of medicine to practice modern medicine, to some extent.T
The one-day national seminar seeks to provide a platform to discuss the Bill and general scholarship around the following themes:

• The justifications for the Bill – real and perceived.
• The proposed changes and its expected effects.
• The impact of the ‘new’ regulatory structures on the practice of modern medicine.
• Fee regulation and its impact
• The justifications and impact of permitting AYUSH professionals to practice modern-allopathic medicines and the limits of such practice.
• Any other issues surrounding the Bill

Call for papers
Those who are interested in presenting a paper on any of the above themes must send an abstract of 800 words along with a brief biographical note of not more than 200 words (in a single MS Word file) on or before 20 February 2018.
The acceptance of the paper for presentation would be informed by 25 February 2018.
A full length paper of 4,000 – 6,000 words must be sent by 15 March 2018.
If the full length paper is not submitted before the last date, authors will not be allowed to present the paper in the Seminar.
Submission of the full length paper would be presumed as unconditional consent of the author/s for a possible publication by the organisers.
Participants’ Registration:
The registration fee for the Seminar is Rs. 500/-, which has to be paid online to the below mentioned account.
The participation to the Seminar is limited to 50 participants (excluding the paper presenters).
 
All interested participants must register by sending a mail to the organizers at[email protected].
Registration would be done on first-come first-served basis until the seats are filled. Registration fee of Rs. 500/- has to be paid only after the confirmation of slots. Registration fee once paid would not be refunded for any reason.
Contact
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +9133-23357379
NUJS DKF Seminar