Parliamentary panel push for Indian Medical Services excites medical fraternity

A parliamentary panel favouring the formation of Indian Medical Services in line with services like IAS IFS and IRS has left the medical fraternity excited The COVID crisis and the resultant experiments with drugs had brought into focus the need for the IMSmidday has consistently run reports on the need for IMS in the country Here are some of them Indian Medical Services needed for administrative decision on healthcare July 8 2020 Indian Medical Services needed to save crumbling health care systemrsquo July 15 2020 Committee submits 40 pages report on need of IMS to IMA July 22 2020A fivemember National Working Committee of Indian Medical Association formed to give recommendations on a dedicated IMS had submitted a 40page report to the AssociationThe team was headed by Dr Vedprakash Mishra national head of the Academic Programme Indian Programme UNESCO chair in BioEthics Haifa worked on the modulation of structure operation and function of IMS constituted by Dr Rajan Sharma IMArsquos national president The working group also includes Dr Vinay Agarwal former national president of IMA Dr Shivkumar Utture president of Maharashtra Medical Council and Dr R V Asokan secretarygeneral IMA Dr S Arulrhaj president of Association of Physicians of India and Dr A Marthanda Pillai exnational president of IMA were inviteesDr Vedprakash Mishra Dr Shaikh and Dr Subhash HiraDr Vedprakash Mishra also the author of the report called the development a matter of immense satisfaction ldquoIt would be a very prudent step which would alter the face and facet of healthcare administrations in coming times ensuring its required streamlining which would result in actualization of the core constitutional concept of ushering in lsquoWelfare Statersquo with the desired fulfilment of the lsquoRight to Healthrsquo as a fundamental right guaranteed within the scope and meaning of Article 21 of the Constitution of India It gives me great pleasure to have contributed to this larger National cause in a humble way of authoring the said detailed analytical report which I am happy is turning out to be of great use utility and relevance for policymakingrdquoldquoThe health administration cadre will apart from giving a fillip to an effective healthcare delivery system it will also streamline the entire health management system at all levels including effective meaning and diligent integration thereof As such the said move will usher in a new era of its type and will entail a huge paradigm shift from the existing parochial health administrative systemrdquo Dr Mishra saidDr Wiqar Shaikh Professor of Medicine Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals said hopefully the Centre will now consider the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee and approve the IMS cadre Being a specialised field he said a nonmedical IAS officer might not be able to efficiently handle medical administrationDr Shaikh emphasized that IMS will need to look into the problems of medical colleges in India and correct the deficiencies on a warfooting with faculty shortage in staterun institutions being the major challenge He also highlighted the need for superspeciality teaching departments like blood diseases cancer and rheumatologyLack of newer drugs and investigations are again the shortcomings of several medical colleges he saidDr Mishra continued ldquoThe COVID scenario and the limitations of health administration having been revealed beyond any reasonable doubt the resultant situation also brings out to the fore the need and importance of an administrative health cadre It would not be prudent to include the same under the rubric of lsquoAllied Servicesrsquo because it would result in dilution of the entire propositionrdquoDr Subhash Hira Professor of Global Health at the University of WashingtonSeattle said the emergence of pandemics like AIDS TB Malaria Dengue NIPAH Ebola Swine flu and SARS in the 21st century prompted world leaders to renew their attention on health sectorldquoThe 21st century was hailed as the lsquoCentury of Pandemicsrsquo by President Bush in 2005 A good example of a centralised public health service is the United States Public Health Services USPHS that manages and oversees all the disease control programs and national health carerdquoHe said ldquomidday took up the advocacy in 2020 and published several articles To improve the health sector itrsquos time to invest in Medical Education and Research A lesson learnt from COVID19 pandemic Several health sector organisations such as the IMA and PHFI have been recommending IMS cadre for a long time middayrsquos advocacy has had its national impact on shaping the health policyrdquoThough IMS existed during the first and second World Wars Dr Hira said it was dismantled soon after Independence This led to total neglect in the development of the health sector in the country till the end of the 20th century ldquoThat neglect was evident by the lack of political support to the health sector since it was less of a votecatcher and budget allocations ranged between O3 to 10 per cent of GDP towards health and medical educationrdquo1947Year when IMS had been abolishedlsquoIt would be a very prudent step which would alter the face and facet of healthcare administrations in coming times ensuring its required streamlining which would result in actualization of the core constitutional concept of ushering in Welfare State with the desired fulfilment of the Right to HealthrsquoDr Vedprakash Mishra Chairman of IMArsquos National Working Committee