Indian Medical Council Bill introduced in LS

The government on Friday introduced an amendment Bill in Lok Sabha to replace an Ordinance to supersede the existing Medical Council of India (MCI) and vest its powers in a board of governors until the said regulatory body is reconstituted.

The Indian Medical Council (amendment) Bill, 2018 was introduced by Union Health Minister J P Nadda in the Lower House, amid din.

The Lok Sabha was witnessing a pandemonium over the Rafale deal and other issues when the Union health minister moved the bill for the consideration of the House.

The Ordinance, promulgated by President Ram Nath Kovind on September 26, provides for reconstitution of the MCI within a period of one year.

“The working of the said council has been under scrutiny since long time and the same was examined by various expert bodies including the department related parliamentary standing committee on health and family welfare, which in its ninety-second Report, in March, 2016, severely indicted the said council,” the health minister said in a statement of objects and reasons for the Bill.

The parliamentary committee recommended that the government should bring “a new comprehensive” bill in the Parliament “at the earliest” so as to restructure and revamp the regulatory system of medical education and medical practice and to reform the MCI.

“Accordingly, the National Medical Commission Bill, 2017 was introduced in Lok Sabha in December, 2017 and the same is pending,” he added.

However, in the meantime, in view of “the arbitrary action by the said council” in disregard to the provisions of “the said Act and regulations made thereunder”, immediate steps were required to be taken by the government to put “an alternative mechanism” in place of the council so as to bring transparency, accountability and quality in the governance of medical education in the country, he said.

“Hence, it has been decided to supersede the MCI and entrust its affairs to a board of governors consisting of eminent doctors for a period of one year or until the said council is reconstituted, whichever is earlier,” he said.

As Parliament was not in session and urgent legislation was required to be made, the president promulgated the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 on September 26, he added.