Rajya Sabha passes NMC Bill with some amendments, National Medical Commission will replace Medical Council of India
Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the National Medical Commission Bill 2019. Once the Bill gets the assent of President Ramnath Kovind, the era of Medical Council of India as the regulator of medical education in India will come to an end.
The National Medical Commission is a body comprising of professionals and central government appointees (based on the recommendations of a search committee) that will regulate the content of the medical syllabus, the standards of colleges and faculty and also the fees for 40% colleges. The Indian Medical Association had been opposing the Bill on multiple counts and had called a nationwide medical strike in protest. IMA officials had also reached out to members of the Upper House to prevent the passage of the Bill despite the fact that the Bill had been scrutinised by the Parliamentary standing committee of health and family welfare.
This Bill that I have brought about and which has already been passed by the Lok Sabha is the biggest reform of recent times in the field of medical education. It has been brought with the blessings of our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. This date will always be written in golden letters in the history of medical education of this country
During the discussion in the Rajya Sabha, members talked about the provision for a “limited practice licence” that they said would open the floodgates of quackery and fears about excessive presence of government nominees in the Commission. Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said that the Bill would push the medical education sector into private hands. ”
The original Bill which the Minister spoke about had a provision which said, “There are roughly 76,000 MBBS seats in the country today. Out of the 76,000 MBBS seats, 40,000 seats are in Government medical colleges and about 36,000 seats are in private sector. Of the 36,000 private seats, roughly 30,000 are in private medical colleges and 6,000 are in deemed universities. The hon. Minister knows and every Member of Parliament will know that even today, every State Government regulates fees to private medical institutions because of the Inamdar Judgement of the Supreme Court… This is going to open the floodgates to privatization of medical education.”
BJP MP Suresh Prabhu responded that the incursion of the private has been necessitated by the fact that the state alone has not been able to provide healthcare for all.
Moving the Bill health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said: “After having got the experience and exposure of healthcare delivery system of the country, I can say with utmost confidence and utmost sincerity at my command that this Bill that I have brought about and which has already been passed by the Lok Sabha is the biggest reform of recent times in the field of medical education. It has been brought with the blessings of our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. This date will always be written in golden letters in the history of medical education of this country.”
