IMA’s national president Ashok Adhao from Nagpur said the IMA was concerned over the issue and was raising it at every platform.

He called upon the government for legislation on the protection of rights of the doctors and also exhorted his fellow professionals to realise their duties. The doctors were of the opinion that the increasing number of new diseases and the increased requirement for expensive diagnoses are leading to ill-will between doctors and patients.

The baton of the Punjab chapter, meanwhile, was passed on to new IMA state president Dr Yash Sharma, who hails from Jalandhar. He thanked CM Parkash Singh Badal for passing the Punjab Protection of Medical Service Persons and Medicare Services Institutions Act, 2008. “We feel relieved with this law now, as attacks on doctors and hospitals had become quite frequent,” said Sharma.

Later, a panel discussion was also organised in which IMA’s former president Dr Santokh Singh moderated the debate on the topic, ‘Has the doctor changed or is he facing the changed society’.