As Maharashtra’s doctor protests intensify over the CCMP policy, a protesting MBBS doctor explains why the medical fraternity believes patient safety, clinical training and healthcare standards are at the heart of the controversy.
The Maharashtra Government has recently passed a decision that allows BHMS graduates, those who have completed a one-year Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology (CCMP) to become eligible for registration with the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) has triggered widespread protests by doctors across the state.
Medical associations have argued that while improving access to healthcare is important, allowing practitioners without an MBBS degree to prescribe modern medicines and register with the state’s medical council raises serious questions about patient safety and medical standards. The issue has now reached the Bombay High Court, even as doctors continue to voice their opposition.
Among those who joined the protests was Dr. Rajat Agrawal, MD (Radiodiagnosis), Shah Diagnostics and Dental Care, Gondia. In an exclusive conversation with Times Now, he explains why the medical fraternity believes the policy needs to be reconsidered.
Q. The Maharashtra government says a one-year Certificate Course in Modern Pharmacology is enough for BHMS doctors to prescribe allopathic medicines and seek MMC registration. Why are doctors opposing this?
Dr. Rajat Agrawal: This debate is much bigger than prescribing medicines. Modern medicine is built on years of scientific learning, clinical exposure and supervised training. Prescribing a drug is only the final step. Before that comes diagnosis, understanding disease progression, recognising complications and deciding the most appropriate course of treatment.
An MBBS doctor spends years learning all of this before being allowed to practise independently. A one-year certificate, no matter how well designed, cannot provide the same depth of clinical training. Medical standards exist to protect patients, and those standards should not be weakened.
Q. From a patient safety perspective, what concerns you the most?
Dr. Rajat Agrawal: Every prescription begins with a diagnosis. If the diagnosis itself is incorrect or delayed, the right medicine will not solve the problem.
The concern is not only about prescribing the wrong drug. It is also about missing serious illnesses, failing to recognise emergencies or overlooking complications that require immediate intervention. Modern medicines have adverse effects, contraindications and drug interactions that often become challenging in real-life clinical situations.
Clinical judgement is not something that develops in a classroom alone. It comes from years of bedside training, seeing different kinds of patients and learning under supervision. That experience is difficult to replace with a short-duration course.
Q. How is MBBS training different from a one-year pharmacology certificate?
Dr. Rajat Agrawal: An MBBS degree is much more than studying textbooks. It is a structured clinical journey. Students are trained in anatomy, physiology, pathology, microbiology, pharmacology, medicine, surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, emergency medicine and several other specialties before completing a compulsory rotating internship.
During this time, they learn how to examine patients, interpret investigations, manage uncertainty, identify emergencies and make evidence-based decisions with senior doctors guiding them. A pharmacology course may improve knowledge of medicines, but medicine itself is about far more than drugs. Diagnosis and overall patient management cannot be learnt in a single year.