Bill to replace Medical Council of India gets cabinet approval

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet cleared the National Medical Commission Bill 2017 which, once enacted, will replace the existing Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, in what many see as a huge step forward towards reforming the way medical education is regulated in India.

The Medical Council of India does this and it has been criticised for the way it does so.

Some of its members are alleged to have taken bribes to facilitate accreditation of medical colleges, or accelerate the process.

The National Medical Council aims to get around this prob-

NATIONAL MEDICAL COMMISSION DRAFT BILL AIMS AT GREATER TRANSPARENCY, EDUCATION REFORMS

lem by having autonomous boards to perform the functions of regulating undergraduate medical education; postgraduate medical education; assessment and rating; and ethics and medical registration.

The idea is that by separating the selection function from the accreditation one, avenues for corruption will shrink.

“We have been demanding a medical commission for long. This is a positive development,” said Dr Naresh Trehan, the chairman of Medanta.

The 25-member commission will have a chairman, a member secretary and 12 ex-officio members comprising presidents of four autonomous boards, director general of health services; DG of Indian Council of Medical Research; director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and nominees of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, and North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, Shillong.