question_answer

Recently, the government had passed the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill of 2019 to replace the controversial Indian Medical Council (IMC) with a National Medical Commission (NMC) to regulate medical education and practices in India. It repealed the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, which led to the formation of the MCI.

As per the Bill, a national medical commission will be set up in place of MCI that will have responsibilities such as approving and assessing medical colleges, conducting common MBBS entrance and exit examinations and regulating medical course fees.

The Bill aims to provide for a medical education system that improves access to quality and affordable medical education, ensures availability of adequate and high quality medical professionals in all parts of the country.

The National Medical Commission Bill of 2019 proposes to have four autonomous boards to take care of its different functions:

(a) Under-Graduate Medical Education Board to set standards and regulate medical education at undergraduate level

(b) Post-Graduate Medical Education Board to set standards and regulate medical education at postgraduate level

(c) Medical Assessment and Rating Board for inspections and rating of medical institutions and

(d) Ethics and Medical Registration Board to regulate and promote professional conduct and medical ethics and also maintain national registers of licensed medical practitioners and Community Health Providers (CHPs).

The CHPs are a new class of medical practitioners to be given licenses to practice modem medicine at mid-level to those connected with modem scientific medical profession, the criteria for which would be specified later.

Their number would be one-third of the total number of licensed and registered medical practitioners.

As for admissions and licensing, the Bill provides for a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to all undergraduate and post-graduate '‘super-speciality'’ medical education.

It provides National Exit Test (NEXT) for granting ‘'license'’ to practice and admission to postgraduate '‘broad-speciality courses’'.

So far, all admissions are through the NEET and no licensing is required for practice but a medical practitioner has to register with a state medical council for this.

The Bill also proposes for the NMC to '‘frame guidelines for determination of fee and other charges'’ for 50% of seats in private medical institutions and deemed to be universities.

Currently, state governments determine fees for 85% of seats in such institutions and the rest are left for the management.

Other powers of the NMC include permission to establish new medical colleges, start post-graduate courses, increase the number of seats, recognition of medical qualifications in and outside India etc.

While the Medical Council of India (MCI) was an autonomous body with two-third of its members (160 plus) being directly elected by the medical fraternity, the new one would have 25 members with no directly elected member.

Ethics and Medical Registration Board will perform which of the following tasks?

A) Professional conduct and medical ethics only

B) Professional conduct and medical ethics along with national registers of LMPs and CHPs.

C) Professional conduct and medical ethics along with the national registers of government doctors

D) Professional conduct and medical ethics along with training for doctors in medical ethics.