Doctors from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) protested against the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill on Sunday. A similar protest was carried out by the doctors from AIIMS hospital to Parliament last month.

The bill, which seeks to replace and subsume the Medical Council of India (MCI) with a new body, was tabled in the Rajya Sabha in January by Union Health Minister JP Nadda.

According to the bill, practitioners of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, can practice modern medicine once they complete a short-term 'bridge' course.

The doctors of the premier All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said the bill carried several provisions that were "serious enough to distort the future of medical education in the country". The doctors claimed that the proposed legislation "puts medical education into the hands of the rich and the powerful".

The medical practitioners have been against the passing of the bill stating that it is unfair, and anti-patient and doctors. The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) had said that the proposed legislation will "cripple" the functioning of the medical professionals by making them completely answerable to the bureaucracy and non-medical administrators.

The bill is also aimed at bringing reforms in the medical education sector which has been under scrutiny for corruption and unethical practices. However, the IMA has termed the bill as "draconian and undemocratic" and called for its withdrawal.

Earlier, in a letter to Nadda, AIIMS RDA president, Harjit Singh Bhatti said the doctors' fraternity was "frightened" from the day the bill was introduced in Parliament.

"Issues such as nomination of majority of members of NMC by bureaucrats and politicians, full control of corporate sector to decide fees of more than 60 per cent of seats, national licentiate exam, no provision of grievances redressal for student, and bridge course...are serious enough to distort the future of medical education in this country," Bhatti had said.