Govt policies & Interventions

KEY POINTS

Features of NMC Bill, 2017

·         The new NMC bill provides for the replacement of the MCI, with a 25-member National Medical Commission (NMC).

·         A Medical Advisory Council should be constituted by the central government to advise and make recommendations to the NMC.

·         The council will include members from each state and Union Territory, chairperson of the UGC, and director of the NAAC.

·         It proposed for a National Licentiate Examination for MBBS graduates to grant licences for medical practice, and for admission to postgraduate courses.

·         It also allows practitioners of homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine to prescribe allopathic medicine upon completion of a “bridge” course.

Advantages

·         The existing Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act does not call for diversity of backgrounds in its members.

·         Self-regulation alone does not work because, any group consisting entirely of members from the same profession is unlikely to promote and protect public interest over and above their own self-interest.

·         The wider representation in the proposed regulatory body will promote and protect health care services.

·         The proposed licentiate exams will encourage standard doctors.

·         The existing IMC is elected by medical practitioners across the country, whereas, the members of the proposed NMC are mostly nominated.

·         Thus, the new NMC will eliminate the possibility of use of money power in elections.

·         In election process, use of money gives advantage to private management-sponsored candidates getting over-represented.

·         Since the number of private medical colleges is increasing, the over-representation of private medical college representatives would affect the role and responsibilities of the MCI.

Disadvantages

·         It will make the system prone to corruption because, the members are mostly nominated, not elected.

·         So, in keeping with global standards, and as is the practice in other educational fields in our country (AICTE and UGC), regulatory structure should be run by persons selected through a transparent mechanism rather than by the current process of election and nominations.

·         It will cripple the functioning of medical professionals by making them completely answerable to the bureaucracy and non-medical administrators.

·         Unscientific mixing of systems and empowering of other practitioners through bridge courses will only pave the way for substandard doctors and substandard medical practice.

·         The licentiate examination will create additional hurdles for the backward communities.

·         It is an anti-poor bill with pro-private management clauses which aims to allowing private medical colleges to increase undergraduate and postgraduate seats on their own.

·         The private medical colleges will be allowed to decide the fee for 60 per cent of their seats, while previously it was 15 per cent.

·         This will increase the cost of medical education.

·         Under the new bill, medical colleges will need permission only once for establishment and recognition, with no need for annual renewal.

pliz review

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