New Delhi: In a major shake up to the controversial Medical Council of India and a step largely seen as a move to bring reforms in medical education sector, the centre on Wednesday issued an ordinance and dissolved the Medical Council of India and replaced it with a special panel.
Briefing reporters on the deliberations held at cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet has been given the nod by the President Ram Nath Kovind.
The Ordinance 2018 says the MCI will be superseded and the President, Vice-President and other MCI members will have to “vacate” their offices and shall have no claim to compensation, sources said.
The ordinance supersedes the MCI and the powers of the council have been vested in a Board of
Governors, official sources said adding the Board will be led by NITI Aayog member health V K Paul.
“Other members will be people of eminence,” Mr Jaitley merely said.
The MCI was dissolved through an ordinance in 2010 under the Congress-led UPA after the arrest of the MCI
president Ketan Desai by the CBI on April 22, 2010 but was revamped in 2013 again.
The seven-member new Board of Governors also comprises AIIMS New Delhi Director Randeep Guleria,
PGI Chandigarh Director Jagat Ram, NIMHANS Bangalore Chief B N Gangadhar, AIIMS New Delhi professor
Nikhil Tandon, Director General Health Services S Venkatesh, and Secretary Health Research Balram Bhargava.
The government sources have justified the move to take Ordinance route and said immediate steps
wee called for after a Supreme Court appointed reportedly could not function and a bill to replace
the present MCI is awaiting parliamentary approval.
There have been frequent allegations of corruption in the MCI fast-track accreditation to new
institutions and medical colleges. UNI
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