Gandhinagar: State health minister Jaynarayan Vyas has clarified that the draft Gujarat Public Health Act is "not a final document" and that it has been put on the web for triggering a public, debate, "making tie entire process most transparent". Vyas made the statement in view of wide-scale protests by doctors against the draft Act, insisting, "It is premature at this juncture to agitate." In a letter sent to the state Indian Medical Association (IMA) and making it public through the media on Tuesday, Vyas said, "While I fully concede your right to debate and highlight the issues which you feel can create hardship to the medical profession, please appreciate that the very purpose of making the draft available to you for the debate is to make sure that we do not enact a legislation without appreciating the views of various segments, including the IMA." Calling the state IMA's apprehensions on the draft Act as "unfortunate", Vyas appealed to its members to "cooperate, rather than confront". He aid, "The draft is just placed for free and frank discussion, hence there is no room or cause for confrontation." He promised the state IMA that the decision on the final text would be taken "in the utmost democratic manner", something that is" rarely done by any of the state governments". Justifying the draft Act's contents, however, she said, the document was prepared "after prolonged deliberations and consultations with some of the eminent-public health experts in the country like Dr Amar Jesani , Dr Themal Rao and also experts from legal fraternity". Others who were consulted include experts on health issues with the National Human Rights Commission and IIM-Ahmedabad. The draft is based on discussions with them by state officials "over around 18 months", he added.