National Medical Commission replaces Medical Council of India
28 Sep 2020
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The National Medical Commission (NMC) has replaced the dissolved Medical Council of India (MCI) following the passage of the bill in both Houses of Parliament last year.
The six-decade-old Indian Medical Council Act 1956 also lapsed with the passage of the National Medical Commission Bill and its notification in the official gazette.
"In pursuance of the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 60 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 is hereby repealed with effect from the 25th day of September, 2020. The Board of Governors appointed under section 3A of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 in supersession of the Medical Council of India constituted under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the said Act shall stand dissolved," the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) notification read.
There will be four autonomous boards under the NMC Act - the Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB), the Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB), the Medical Assessment and Rating Board and the Ethics and Medical Registration Board.
Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma, retired HoD, ENT, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, has been appointed as chairman of the NMC for a period of three years, as per the gazette notification.
Apart from the chairman, the NMC will consist of 10 ex-officio members and 22 part-time members appointed by the central government.
There were many complaints of corruption in the Indian Medical Council, and to ensure transparency, the NMC members will have to declare their assets at the time of joining and also while demitting office.
NMC members will not be allowed to accept any employment in any capacity in a private medical institution whose matter has been dealt with them, either directly or indirectly, for a period of two years,
NMC has been touted as a progressive legislation aimed at reducing the burden on students and ensuring transparency in medical education by bringing down costs.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had termed NMC as a huge and visionary reform aimed at providing wider access to people for quality healthcare.
"A provision has been made in the NMC Act to register some Community Health Providers (CHPs) who shall be modern medicine professionals; they shall not be dealing with any alternative system of medicine. Also, they will have limited powers for providing primary and preventive healthcare at the mid-level," he had said earlier.
