National Medical Commission to Replace Medical Council of India

The idea of replacing Medical Council of India (MCI) with the National Medical Commission (NMC) is being proposed by Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog and a high-level committee led by him.

P K Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog and Health Secretary Bhanu Pratap Sharma are also part of the panel apart from Arvind Panagariya. The aim of the panel is to resolve the poor administration that has clawed the medical education by MCI.

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A senior government official talked about the reason behind the decision and said that the decision is to replace MCI with NMC is firm and has been taken with the motive to end the ‘inspector raj’ that has empowered the medical sector in India.

NMC is being defined as the new regulatory body that will be responsible for all the roles of MCI. Reputed doctors from related fields will be a part of NMC in order to get their expert advice in picking the right direction for the medical education in India. The new body will work in leading the medical education to the global standards.

As per the official, various meetings were held by the committee to decide the standards basis which the new body will be developed to meet the world-class professional criteria. Renowned doctors, office holders of the MCI, former Health Secretaries and medical officers from the states were a part of these detailed discussions.

Also Read:NITI Aayog in Favour of Scrapping MCI

The drafting is in progress and is more than halfway through said another senior government official giving confirmation regarding the evolution of a new regulatory body. Changing the current trend, the members of the new council will not be elected as election excluded prominent doctors and they were not able to contribute in the workings of the MCI.

Regulators in NMC will not be elected, rather they will be selected as per the suggestion of the high-level panel. The selection process will be conducted by a high-level Search-cum-Selection committee that will be responsible for selecting members in a transparent process for the benefit of NMC.

NMC will comprise nearly 19-20 members for a five-year term. Apart from medical experts and prominent doctors, experts from the fields of economics, law, etc. will also be a part of the body to make the regulation more professional.

The NMC will have a chairman and will have four autonomous Boards that will work in different fields, i.e. the Under Graduate Medical Board, the Post Graduate Medical Board, the Accreditation and Assessment Board and a board for registration of medical colleges that will also monitor the ethics in the profession, added the official.