Docs say reschedule Med Council polls to boost participation

Mumbai: Doctors want elections to the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), a quasi-judicial organisation that oversees the working of the medical fraternity and has powers to suspend or cancel a doctor’s licence, to be rescheduled to a Sunday or public holiday instead of April 3, which is a working day.
In a letter written to the returning officer for the MMC elections, the Association of Medical Consultants (AMC) has asked for more election centres or the introduction of online voting.
The majority of doctors have “demanding professional commitments, including hospital duties, private practice, and emergency medical services,” and cannot take a long break from their work schedule on a weekday.
Conducting elections on a weekday and at limited centres—namely, only district headquarters—hampers many doctors’ participation in the voting process, said the letter.
“In cities such as Mumbai, this problem is more acute considering the traffic congestions that are very common on weekdays,” the AMC doctors said, adding that past elections were conducted on Sunday, which “helped in improving voter turnout.”
The AMC, which has over 14,500 medical consultants as members and about 1,000 nursing home-owners, has also requested the council to increase the number of voting centres in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur.
“Alternatively, please explore the possibility of online voting, similar to how several medical associations and professional bodies now conduct elections,” said the AMC members.