Doctors across Maharashtra can now participate in a live webcast of the interaction between members of the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) and members of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) which will be held at the IMA - Mumbai West Branch on Sunday, June 26, 2011 from 10 am to 1 pm. This is the first time that IMA, MMC and Medical Council of India (MCI) interaction, which will be broadcasted on the internet to increase interactions with all doctors across the state.

The discussion topic covered by the speakers on behalf of the Council will include renewal of registration, viewpoint of MCI, viewpoint of a teaching institute, viewpoint of doctors in service, and viewpoint of specialists/hospital owners. It will also include the viewpoint of family physician.

Dr Ashok Balsekar, president IMA - Mumbai West Branch, said: “In the era where commuting is more and more difficult and communication is becoming easier and easier, IMA - Mumbai West is taking a giant leap ahead in taking a CME programme to the doorstep of doctors. This step will take a long way to help our fraternity to get the credit points from the comforts of their homes or from their practise.”

The webcast is absolutely free and requires a simple registration to be filled in order to view it and also for doctors to ask questions and participate in an online polling system on the pressing issues to be met and on the direction which the newly formed State Medical Council should take on various issues. Questions asked through the online webcast can be directed to the MCI members to answer it.

The webcast will also be archived for those who missed it and can also post their queries and participate on an online discussion on the DocMode website which will be sent to be reviewed by the MMC members. Lawrence Pinheiro, director DocMode said, “This is the excellent opportunity for doctors across Maharashtra to log in and view the interactions of the MMC and the IMA. Keeping in mind that there will be many doctors viewing it from smaller towns and rural places, the webcast is designed to be heard and viewed by them even if they have low bandwidth internet speed.”