The Union cabinet has cleared a bill to set up a National Medical Commission (NMC), which will have responsibilities such as approving and assessing medical colleges, conducting common MBBS entrance and exit examinations and regulating course fees.
The National Medical Commission Bill 2019 proposes to repealthe Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. NMC will replace the Medical Council ofIndia (MCI), which was dissolved in 2010 following corruption charges.
The common final year MBBS exam will now be known asNational Exit Test (NEXT) to start medical practice, seek admissions topost-graduate medical courses and as a screening test for foreign medicalgraduates.
The bill also seeks to make the national medical entranceexam, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), common counselling andNEXT applicable to Institutes of National Importance (INIs) such as the AllIndia Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to ensure uniform standards.
The bill, which was first presented in 2017, lapsed with thedissolution of the Lok Sabha, and will now be tabled in the ongoing session.
“At present, we are having NEET and entrance exams forAIIMS. Now, we will also have an exit exam that will be for everyone forgetting a licence to practice medicine in the country,” Union minister PrakashJavadekar said at a cabinet briefing.
NMC will also regulate fees and all other charges for 50%seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities. The MedicalAssessment and Rating Board (MARB) under NMC will assess medical colleges anddevelop a system for ranking them.
“These measures through an autonomous commission will ensurea transparent admission process and also bring down the admission fee, as wehave long been talking about fee regulation in private colleges,” saidJavadekar.
Apart from MARB, there will be three other autonomous boardsunder NMC, the Under-Graduate Medical Education Board, the Post-GraduateMedical Education Board, and the Ethics and Medical Registration Board. NMC,with the help of these boards, will ensure a dynamic and modern educationalenvironment, decreasing the emphasis on physical infrastructure, achieving thenorms in global standards and an effective grievance redressal mechanism,according to an official statement.
The bill also proposes to set up a Medical Advisory Councilas a separate entity. It will serve as the primary platform through which thestates will put forward their views and concerns before the NMC and help shapethe overall agenda in medical education and training. Autonomous boards will beunder state medical councils.
The strength of autonomous boards under state medicalcouncils has been increased from 3 to 5, including 2 part-time members. One ofthem will be a doctor selected by the state government and the other will be andoctor chosen by the State Medical Council.
“The Medical Assessment and Rating Board will grantpermission for new medical colleges, starting PG courses and increasing seatsbased on the standards set by the UG and PG boards. The annual renewalpermission for new medical colleges before recognition is being done awaywith,” according to the statement.
The health ministry has been pushing the NMC Bill amidresistance from the Indian Medical Association, which has claimed thatreplacing MCI with another body may just result in people coming up with newforms of corruption.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill which seeks toreplace the Medical Council of India (MCI) and usher in major changes in thecountry’s medical education sector is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabhaon Friday. AGENCIES