<p>A report of the parliamentary standing committee on health, which was submitted to the Rajya Sabha this week, has severely indicted the Medical Council of India (MCI) and its functioning. The MCI is the country’s regulator of medical education and profession, but instead of regulating them and ensuring that the best practices are followed, it has become a symbol of corruption, inefficiency and malpractices. Its former president was arrested and is facing corruption and other charges. The president of the MCI admitted to the committee that there is rampant corruption in the body. The committee has recommended a complete restructuring of the MCI and scrapping of the 1956 legislation under which it was formed. It wants a new law to be enacted under which a new regulatory system can be formed which will improve medical education and practice.<br /><br />The MCI has two important functions. One is the sanctioning of medical colleges and increasing or reducing the number of seats. The other is maintaining the ethical and professional standards of medical practice. The regulatory body has failed in both. There is huge corruption in the licensing of colleges. Colleges which do not have the required physical and teaching infrastructure are given licence. This has a direct impact on the quality of doctors who pass out of these colleges. Medical practice has lost most of the professional values and sanctity it once had and has been commercialised like other occupations. The MCI did not prevent this deterioration but actually contributed to it. Very few doctors are punished for violation of professional norms and ethics. The fall in standards of competence and conduct is of greater concern than the deterioration of standards in other areas of life because health is more important than other areas. This is especially so in a country where most people do not have access to even basic health care and cannot afford the highs costs of medical treatment.<br /><br />The committee wants the two functions of the MCI to be separated from each other. It wants the MCI to be more representative of society, medical education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels to be overhauled, the present system of entrance and admissions to be changed and the number of colleges and seats to be increased. Some specific proposals may call for wider debate. India has a poor doctor population ratio and many more doctors are needed. These reforms are urgently needed. The panel says the medical education system will face total collapse if immediate and comprehensive action is not taken to revamp it. The government and political parties should heed the call.</p>
<p>A report of the parliamentary standing committee on health, which was submitted to the Rajya Sabha this week, has severely indicted the Medical Council of India (MCI) and its functioning. The MCI is the country’s regulator of medical education and profession, but instead of regulating them and ensuring that the best practices are followed, it has become a symbol of corruption, inefficiency and malpractices. Its former president was arrested and is facing corruption and other charges. The president of the MCI admitted to the committee that there is rampant corruption in the body. The committee has recommended a complete restructuring of the MCI and scrapping of the 1956 legislation under which it was formed. It wants a new law to be enacted under which a new regulatory system can be formed which will improve medical education and practice.<br /><br />The MCI has two important functions. One is the sanctioning of medical colleges and increasing or reducing the number of seats. The other is maintaining the ethical and professional standards of medical practice. The regulatory body has failed in both. There is huge corruption in the licensing of colleges. Colleges which do not have the required physical and teaching infrastructure are given licence. This has a direct impact on the quality of doctors who pass out of these colleges. Medical practice has lost most of the professional values and sanctity it once had and has been commercialised like other occupations. The MCI did not prevent this deterioration but actually contributed to it. Very few doctors are punished for violation of professional norms and ethics. The fall in standards of competence and conduct is of greater concern than the deterioration of standards in other areas of life because health is more important than other areas. This is especially so in a country where most people do not have access to even basic health care and cannot afford the highs costs of medical treatment.<br /><br />The committee wants the two functions of the MCI to be separated from each other. It wants the MCI to be more representative of society, medical education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels to be overhauled, the present system of entrance and admissions to be changed and the number of colleges and seats to be increased. Some specific proposals may call for wider debate. India has a poor doctor population ratio and many more doctors are needed. These reforms are urgently needed. The panel says the medical education system will face total collapse if immediate and comprehensive action is not taken to revamp it. The government and political parties should heed the call.</p>