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A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking Operationalization of Provisions of The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 ensuring quality healthcare in Rural India.

The plea has been filed by Citizen Force Foundation for Citizens, Advocate Ramesh Allanki through Advocate Aruna Gupta states that "The Act, among others, enable about 25 Lakh Rural Medical Practitioners across India, after passing qualifying tests, to register themselves as Community Health Promoters and provide their services as notified by erstwhile Government of Andhra Pradesh in the year 2008 and 2017, the States of Telangana and West Bengal in the year 2015 and some other states.'

The plea further submits that once the Act is implemented, these village doctors also become part of Allied and Healthcare Professionals by transforming themselves as Community Health Promoters.

It states that there has been a persistent demand for a regulatory framework for several decades for 56 professionals who will be under the scanner of the National Regulator through this Act.

The professional categories who will be under the scanner are Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Ophthalmic Sciences, Medical Laboratory, Medical Radiology, Community Care Professionals and Health Information Management, and Health Informatics, the petition added.

The plea further states that "The Act passed in Parliament in March 2021 and came into force on 25th May 2021. It applies to the whole of India. All the Allied and Healthcare Professionals are now under the regulatory Control of National Commission at New Delhi on par with Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists etc., and there will be a uniform standard of skills for each category throughout the Country."

Case Title: Citizen Force Foundation for Citizens Vs. Union of India