CHENNAI: State wing of the Indian Medical Association has opposed the state medical council diktat on mandatory completion of credit hours in continuing medical education for re-registration of medical licences. The committee has called for an urgent meeting on May 3.

IMA state president Dr A Jayalal, who was also the former president of the medical council said although the IMA welcomed the concept of re-registration, it cannot be "punitive" in nature.

"Obtaining 30 credit points should be optional, not mandatory as there is no legal provision for registration either in the MCI acts or the legislations that govern the state council," he said. "Also MCI code of conduct 2002 recommends every doctor should have 30 hours of training in 5 years, not credit hours (one credit hour is approximately four hours of training)" he said.

Last week, the medical council said it will ask doctors to renew their practising licence by May. While renewal is mandatory to continue practice, as a pre-requisite, doctors should have completed at least 30 hours of continuing medical education (CME) in five-years, council president K Senthil said. In 2012, the council announced that it is mandatory for doctors to renew their licences every five years as per the Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines.

The state council, like Kerala and Maharashtra, can make it mandatory through notifications and amending the state act. "The council has said that it will re-register doctor after allowing them to carry forward credit hours. Credit points should be considered prospectively after amending rules," he said.