‘Rural health practitioners are not medical practitioners’; Assam Rural Health Regulatory Authority Act, 2004 rightly struck down by Gauhati HC: Supreme Court
Observing that performance of functions identical to those performed by medical practitioners by persons who do not possess the qualifications prescribed under the Central Act, could have dangerous consequences, the Supreme Court held that Rural Health Practitioners enlisted under the Assam Act, are underqualified to perform functions similar to those performed by medical practitioners registered in accordance with the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. The Court, however, upheld the constitutionality of the Assam Community Professional (Registration and Competency) Act, 2015 that was enacted to give continuity in service to the practitioners in question.
