Indian Medical Association

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) is a national voluntary organisation of physicians in India. It was established in 1928[2] as the All India Medical Association, and was renamed the Indian Medical Association in 1930. It is a society registered under The Societies Act of India.

Indian Medical Association
AbbreviationIMA
Formation1928
HeadquartersNew Delhi
Location
  • Indian Medical Association, IMA House, I.P. Estate, Next to Vikas Minar, New Delhi - 110002
Region served
India
Membership
317,458 as of November 30, 2019[1]
National President
Sahajanand Prasad Singh
Websitewww.ima-india.org

Background edit

The Indian Medical Association has approximately 350,000 member doctors[2] in 1,700 active local branches in 29 states and union territories in India.[3][4] It is the largest association of medical doctors in India.[5]

Previously stationed out of Calcutta, the IMA is headquartered in New Delhi.[2] Local branches send representatives to a central council which meets annually.[6] The council delegates to a working committee that represents all state branches and meets at least three times a year.[6]

The Indian Medical Association is one of the 27 founder members of the World Medical Association,[7] joining in 1948.[2] The IMA left the organization in 1985 due to the WMA's retention of South Africa, then a practitioner of apartheid. The IMA rejoined the WMA in 1993.[2] A Reuters investigative report from 2015 found that the IMA had incorrectly told the WMA that charges of corruption brought by the Central Bureau of Investigation against former IMA president Ketan Desai had been withdrawn.[8][9]

The IMA has expressed opposition to integrated medicine or the mixing together of systems of medicine in curriculum, practice and research in India, often by using the term "mixopathy".[10][11][12] The IMA has held a number of nationwide protests.[13][14][15] These have included several protests between November 2016 and March 2017[16] that objected to bills raised toward the creation of the National Medical Commission[15][17] which replaced the Medical Council of India on 25 September 2020.[18] In December 2020, approximately one million doctors attended a day-long strike organized by the IMA to protest a federal government rule that allows practitioners of the Indian system of medicine Ayurveda to perform minor surgeries.[19] In early 2021, the IMA held a two-week nationwide hunger strike to protest the government's support for surgical training for postgraduate students of Ayurveda.[20]

In 2022, Sahajanand Prasad Singh was listed as the national president for the organization.[11] Singh was preceded in the post by surgeon J. A. Jayalal from 2020 to 2021.[21] Longtime member and cardiologist K. K. Aggarwal held several posts within the IMA including president.[22][23] Ketan Desai served as the organization's head[24] from 2001 to 2003[25] following a period when he had been found guilty by Delhi High Court of corrupt practices and abuse of power.[26]

Office Bearers of IMA since Inception edit

Journal of the Indian Medical Association edit

The Journal of the Indian Medical Association, (JIMA), is indexed in the Index Medicus. Published monthly, JIMA has over 240,000 subscribers for its electronic version and is also available in microfilm through Bell & Howels, US.[29] JIMA was founded in 1930 by Sir Nilratan Sircar, Bidhan Chandra Roy, Kumud Sankar Ray, and others in Calcutta.[29]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Indian Medical Association". www.ima-india.org.
  2. ^ a b c d e Ghosh, Abantika (2021-03-10). "'Voice of doctors' or 'den of politics'? Why some doctors swear by IMA, others don't care". ThePrint. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  3. ^ Rai, D. R. (2012). "Article on Indian Medical Association in Japan Medical association Journal" (PDF). www.med.or.jp. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  4. ^ Patel, Jitendra B.; Saini, Narendra (2014-08-01). "Indian Medical Association". Japan Medical Association Journal: JMAJ. 57 (4): 238–244. ISSN 1346-8650. PMC 4375268. PMID 26005621.
  5. ^ Singh, Prachi (August 12, 2020). "The Contest Between AYUSH and Allopathy Shouldn't Forget Public Health". The Wire. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  6. ^ a b "What is IMA? And it's History". Indian Medical Association. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  7. ^ "History of the World Medical Association". Archived from the original on 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
  8. ^ "WMA president Ketan Desai attends court hearing in corruption case". Reuters. 2016-11-05. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  9. ^ Stecklow, Steve; MacAskill, Andrew; Kalra, Aditya (July 30, 2015). "Indian doctor's legal troubles bedevil global medical-ethics body". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  10. ^ "'Khichdi' medical system can put millions of lives at risk: IMA on integrated medicine proposal". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  11. ^ a b Sirur, Simrin (2022-02-19). "Don't call practitioners of Indian medicine 'quacks', have rights under law, says Commission". ThePrint. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  12. ^ Taskin, Bismee (2020-12-08). "'No point mixing all in one' — IMA to fight govt move to allow Ayurveda doctors to do surgery". ThePrint. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  13. ^ "IMA holds nationwide protest seeking central law to protect doctors against violence". ANI. June 18, 2021.
  14. ^ "IMA's Call For Protest: Some Doctors Withdrew Services, Others Sported Black Ribbons". The Wire. PTI. 12 December 2020. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  15. ^ a b "Indian Medical Association protests against proposal to dissolve Medical Council of India". The Hindu. 2016-11-16. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  16. ^ Nagarajan, Rema (2019-03-16). "Two decades of attempts to cleanse medical education and its regulator the MCI". Times of India. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  17. ^ "IMA strike: IMA protest against NMC bill tomorrow may hit services in private hospitals". The Times of India. January 1, 2018. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  18. ^ "NMC comes into force from today, repeals Indian Medical Council Act". ANI News. September 25, 2020. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  19. ^ Jamkhandikar, Shilpa (2020-12-11). "One million Indian doctors on strike to protest surgeries by traditional practitioners". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  20. ^ Sharma, Dinesh C. (2021-02-13). "Indian Medical Association launches hunger strike". The Lancet. 397 (10274): 567. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00363-9. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 33581811. S2CID 231885079.
  21. ^ Chattopadhyay, Sanchari (December 31, 2020). "TN Surgeon Dr Jayalal Takes Charge As The New National President Of IMA". Medical Dialogues. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  22. ^ "National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill Opposed By IMA: 10 Points". NDTV. December 18, 2017. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  23. ^ "Dr KK Aggarwal elected as the new IMA general secretary". The Economic Times. New Delhi. 2 September 2014. Archived from the original on 9 September 2016.
  24. ^ Kalra, Aditya (2016-10-21). "Indian doctor accused of crimes becomes president of World Medical Association". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  25. ^ Ray, Kalyan (2014-09-22). "Scam-tainted former MCI chief set to head global body". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  26. ^ Sharma, Rohit (2001-12-15). "Head of the Medical Council of India removed for corruption". BMJ: British Medical Journal. 323 (7326): 1385. doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7326.1385. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1121855. PMID 11744556.
  27. ^ "Indian Medical Association".
  28. ^ "Honarary [sic] Secretaries General".
  29. ^ a b "Journal of the Indian Medical Association". SCImago. ISSN 0019-5847.

External links edit