MCI goes, National Medical Commission takes charge

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 24

India’s new medical education regulator, the National Medical Commission (NMC), will come into force from Friday with the Centre abolishing the 87-year-old Medical Council of India, which was marred by corruption in its later years.

The Centre on Thursday night notified the 33-member NMC saying it would come into force from September 25. With the notification, the board of governors of MCI stands automatically dissolved. The BoG was appointed four years ago to run MCI affairs while the MCI remained dissolved. On Thursday, the MCI was abolished.

The notification names Suresh Chandra Sharma, HoD, ENT, AIIMS, New Delhi, as the chairperson of the NMC which will have four autonomous boards to regulate undergraduate medical education, postgraduate medical education, medical assessment and ratings and ethics and medical registration.

The development means all provisions of the NMC Act, 2019, will roll from Friday, including fee regulation on 50 per cent seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities; end of inspections for college renewals; commencement of final-year MBBS exam for three purposes - licensiate exam for MBBS passouts to issue them a licence to practise medicine; entrance exam for postgraduate medical education and entrance exam for foreign medical graduates. Called the National Exit Test, this final-year MBBS exam will finally replace the existing National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for PG and Foreign Medical Graduates Test.

The NMC will also make guidelines for a new cadre of non-MBBS mid-level health service providers such as nursing practitioners and pharmacists with limited rights to dispense medicines. 

The notification names presidents of four autonomous boards under the NMC as follows – Aruna Vanikar, HoD Pathology; GR Doshi, Institute of Kidney Diseases, Ahmadabad (UG medical board); MK Ramesh, Head, surgery at Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (PG medical education board); Achal Gulati, Director Principal, BR Ambedkar Medical College, Delhi; and BN Gangadhar, Director of NIMHANS Bangalore as the president of medical ethics and registration board.

The new regulator has a significant representation from the region with PGI Chandigarh Director Jagat Ram among 11 full-time members with three years’ tenure starting Friday. 

VC of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, Raj Bahadur; VC of Atal Medical and Research University, Himachal Pradesh, Surender Kashyap, and VC of Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, OP Kalra are among 10 vice chancellors appointed to be part NMC members for two years after which there will be a rotation to accommodate V-Cs from other states. 

Mukut Minz of Fortis Mohali's Urology Department has been appointed part-time member of the UG medical education board.

The Commission's journey began in 2016 when NITI Aayog presented the first draft.

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