Move to replace MCI with national medical panel

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 19

The government has begun inter-ministerial consultations on the most awaited reform in the medical education sector, the revamp of the Medical Council of India.

The Health Ministry has circulated a Cabinet note on the draft National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill-2016, which proposes to establish the commission as a replacement to the MCI.

The ministry earlier considered in detail the NMC Bill, 2016, drafted by a NITI Aayog expert committee appointed in March last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“After embarking on comprehensive medical education reforms by introducing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for both undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental admissions, the ministry is now moving in the direction of revamping the medical sector as a whole. That cannot be done by revamping the MCI which has been in the eye of storm, mostly for the wrong reasons. We have now circulated a Cabinet note on the NMC Bill and await ministerial comments,” said a source in the ministry.

The Bill seeks to replace the outdated Indian Medical Council Bill, 1956, and proposes the National Medical Commission as the new policy-making body for the sector. The NMC, under the proposed Bill, will be a body comprising a chairperson, nine ex-officio members and 10 part-time members who will be selected rather than elected, as is the case with MCI members.

The Bill draws inspiration from the 92nd parliamentary committee report on health that rooted for the replacement of MCI saying it cannot be reformed under the existing laws which are outdated.

The PM-appointed panel was tasked with proposing the roadmap for medical sector reforms. In its report last year, the committee had argued that the NMC members should be selected.