Health Ministry Finalises Names Of National Medical Commission (NMC) Members

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare presided over the proceedings of draw of lots for selection of 25 members of the National Medical Commission (NMC), which will replace the Medical Council of India (MCI), here on Monday. The draw was conducted in the presence of Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of Health and Family Welfare and senior officers from the Ministry, and mediapersons.

Once the NMC comes into being, the MCI will automatically get dissolved and the nearly 63-year-old Indian Medical Council Act will stand abolished. 

Dr. Vardhan stated that inclusion of members from diverse background for balanced policy prescriptions is also being ensured.

The National Medical Commission Act, 2019 received assent of the President on August 8, 2019 and was published in the official Gazette on the same day. The Central Government sought nominations from the states, Union Territories and State Medical Councils (SMCs) for constitution of the Medical Advisory Council under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.

Terming it historic, Dr Vardhan said that it is a huge and visionary reform in the medical education sector by the NDA Government and will prove to be a milestone in the years to come. 

He further stated that as promised, the process of selecting its members is being completed in a time bound manner. 

"We had 9 months to select the members of the NMC, and within a short span of two months, we have framed the rules, notified them and also carried out the process of selection of the part-time members of the NMC today. To ensure probity and integrity of the highest order, a compact body is being selected through a transparent mechanism and representation of States and State Councils in rotation. This will facilitate for faster decision making also," Dr Vardhan added.

The four boards to be set up under the NMC Act are 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, reported news agency PTI.

During the lottery, 10 VCs from Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Punjab and Haryana were selected. 

Those selected include Professor Rajendra Pandey, VC of the West Bengal University of Health Sciences, Himanshu A Pandya, VC of the Gujarat University, Professor Mahesh Verma, VC of the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in Delhi, Rajababu Panwar, VC of the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences and Raj Bahadur, VC of the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in Punjab's Faridkot among others. 

Following the same procedure, nine representatives from the SMCs of Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Kerala, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Manipur were selected. 

In the third segment of the draw of lots, four members from Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh, who will serve as part-time members for the autonomous boards, were selected.

The government superseded the MCI in 2017 and appointed a Board of Governors (BoG) to perform its functions. 

The Act provides for setting up of an NMC in place of the MCI for development and regulation of all aspects of medical education, profession and institutions.

Several relevant sections of the Act came into force on September 2. 

The Health Ministry had written to all the chief secretaries, home secretaries (in UTs) and state medical councils, seeking nominations for selection of members to set up a Medical Advisory Council (MAC). The MAC was constituted vide a notification dated October 10 and 11. It consists of representatives of all the 36 states and UTs and 29 SMCs (Meghalaya does not have an SMC and no UT except Delhi has an SMC).

(With Inputs from PTI)

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