National Medical Commission constituted, MCI stands abolished

The National Medical Commission came into existence from Friday as the country's apex regulator of medical education and profession replacing the Medical Council of India. The former head of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences ENT department here, Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma, has been appointed as chairman for a period of three years.

New Delhi: With coming into effect of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act from Friday, the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 stands repealed and the Board of Governors appointed in supersession of the Medical Council of India has also been dissolved with effect from the said date, said the Union Health Ministry.
Terming it as historic reform in the field of medical education, the Health Ministry on Friday informed that the much-awaited National Medical Commission (NMC), along with four Autonomous Boards have been made effective by the Central government.

With this, the decade-old institution of the Medical Council of India (MCI) stands abolished. Along with NMC, the four Autonomous Boards of UG and PG Medical Education Boards, Medical Assessment and Rating Board, and Ethics and Medical Registration Board have also been constituted to help the NMC in day to day functioning, informed the government.

According to the health ministry, the key functions of the NMC will be further streamlining regulations, rating of institutions, HR assessment, focus on research. Besides they will work on modalities of the common final year exam after MBBS (NEXT- National Exit Test) to serve for both registration and PG entrance; prepare guidelines for fee regulation by private medical colleges; and developing standards for Community Health Providers to serve in primary healthcare with a limited practising licence.

"This historic reform will steer medical education towards a transparent, qualitative and accountable system. The basic change that has happened is that the Regulator is now 'selected' on merits, as opposed to an 'elected' Regulator. Men and Women with impeccable integrity, professionalism, experience and stature have been now placed at the helm to steer the medical education reforms further," said the health ministry statement adding that the gazette notification in this regard was issued late last night on the 24th September 2020.

Dr S C Sharma (retd. Prof, ENT, AIIMS, Delhi) has been selected as the Chairperson for a period of three years. Besides the Chairperson, NMC will have 10 ex-officio members that include Presidents of the four Autonomous Boards, Dr.Jagat Ram, Director PGIMER, Chandigarh, Dr Rajendra Badwe, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and Dr Surekha Kishore, Executive Director, AIIMS, Gorakhpur.

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In addition, NMC will have 10 nominees from Vice-Chancellors of Health Universities from States/UTs, 9 nominees from State Medical Councils, and three expert members from diverse professions.

Dr Smita Kolhe, a renowned social worker working in the tribal Melaghat area of Maharashtra and Santosh Kumar Kraleti, CEO, Foot Soldiers for Health Pvt Ltd has been nominated as these expert members. Dr R K Vats will head the Secretariat as Secretary of the NMC.

According to the government, the NMC will carry forward the reforms initiated by the Board of Governors under Dr V K Paul. Already the number of MBBS seats has been increased over the last six years by 48 per cent from around 54000 in 2014 to 80,000 in 2020. The PG seats have increased by 79 per cent from 24000 to 54000 in the same duration, they informed, health ministry.

It may be recalled that the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament in August, 2019.

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ANI