Mangaluru: Private Doctors staged a protest on the premises of IMA and submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner as part of their support the nationwide strike called by Indian Medical Association to protest against the Central Government’s National Medical Commission Bill.

Private Doctors under the aegis of the IMA Mangaluru chapter staged a symbolic protest on the IMA premises against the central government's NMC bill and submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister through the Deputy Commissioner.

“The bill, which the Central Government intends to pass on the recommendations of the National Medical Commission, is unconstitutional. The bill is dangerous for the public interest and to India's medical field. Besides, appropriate representation to states has not been provided in the bill,” the memorandum read.

The Lok Sabha Standing Committee was instructed to consider the negative aspects of the bill that was presented in 2017. Following which, the Committee had suggested 24 changes after consulting several experts. Of these, one suggestion was completely adopted, and three were considered partially. The rest have been dropped.

The association has mentioned many points in the memorandum including the committee’s suggestion that the 9 of 29 members of the Commission should be elected representatives of the medical fraternity was not considered in the bill. The suggestion that the NMC autonomous boards should have elected members was also not considered. The state medical councils were not provided autonomy. Many such points have been mentioned in the memorandum and also asked the PM to consider these factors and take appropriate action.

A Doctors' delegation led by IMA Mangaluru unit President Dr. K Ramachandra Kamath submitted the memorandum to the repetitive of Deputy Commissioner.

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Colombo (PTI): A mobile hospital set up by India in Sri Lanka has provided medical care to over 2,200 people affected by Cyclone Ditwah, as New Delhi ramped up its assistance to the flood-ravaged island nation with engineering support and delivery of fresh relief consignments, the Indian mission here said on Sunday.

Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse triggered by the cyclone, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country's disaster-response capacity.

At least 627 people have been killed and 190 remain missing as of Sunday noon due to catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.

Sharing a social media post by the Ministry of External Affairs on its X handle, the Indian High Commission said a field hospital set up by India in Mahiyanganaya near Kandy has provided medical care to more than 2,200 people affected by the cyclone since December 5.

The hospital has also performed 67 minor procedures and three surgeries, it said. The field hospital was airlifted to Sri Lanka by an IAF C-17 aircraft along with a 78-member Indian medical team on Tuesday.

In another post, the mission said Indian Army engineers, working with Sri Lanka Army Engineers and the Road Development Authority, in Kilinochchi have begun removing a damaged bridge on the Paranthan–Karachchi–Mullaitivu (A35) road, a key route disrupted by the cyclone.

"This joint effort marks another step toward restoring vital connectivity for affected communities," it said.

India has additionally sent nearly 1,000 tonnes of food items and clothing contributed by the people of Tamil Nadu. Of these, about 300 tonnes reached Colombo on Sunday morning aboard three Indian Naval ships.

High Commissioner Santosh Jha handed over the supplies to Sri Lankan Minister for Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe.

India, on November 28, launched 'Operation Sagar Bandhu', a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiative, to aid Sri Lanka in its recovery from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.

Since the launch of the operation, India has provided about 58 tonnes of relief material, including dry rations, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, essential cloths, water purification kits and about 4.5 tonnes of medicines and surgical equipment, the Indian mission said in a press release on Sunday.

Another 60 tonnes of equipment, including generators, inflatable rescue boats, Outboard Motors, and excavators, have also been brought to Sri Lanka, it said, adding that 185 tonnes of Bailey Bridge units were airlifted to restore critical connectivity along with 44 engineers.

Two columns of the National Disaster Response Force, comprising 80 experts and K9 units with specially trained dogs, assisted with immediate rescue and relief efforts in Sri Lanka.

Besides the field hospital in Mahiyanganaya, medical centres have also been set up in the badly hit Ja-Ela region and in Negombo. INS Vikrant, INS Udaygiri, and INS Sukanya provided immediate rescue and relief assistance to Sri Lanka.

Apart from the two Chetak helicopters deployed from INS Vikrant, two heavy-lift, MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force are actively involved in evacuations and airlifting relief material, the release said.

At the request of the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre, a virtual meeting was organised between DMC and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s National Remote Sensing Centre on Saturday.

Since the onset of the disaster, ISRO has been providing maps to assist DMC in its rescue efforts, the release said.