High-powered committee may suggest scrapping of MCI

A four-member committee headed by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya set up for recommending an overhaul of the scandals-tainted Medical Council of India (MCI) is likely to suggest that it be replaced by an altogether new regulatory body.

Health Secretary B. P. Sharma, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Prime Minister’s Additional Principal Secretary P.K. Mishra are the other members on the committee.

Major proposed recommendations:

• It is likely to recommend that no member from the MCI’s staff be appointed to the new medical education commission being proposed “for building a modern education system.”
• The new medical education commission comprise three verticals, each headed by eminent working professionals in the field of health, including from the private sector. 
• The separate verticals proposed are for overseeing curriculum, ethics and accreditation.

Background:

In March 2016, a Parliamentary Standing Committee report called for “radical reform” of the MCI, saying that it neither “represents professional excellence nor its ethos” and that its composition was “opaque” and “biased” against larger public health goals. It also said that the Central government had virtually no power to disagree with the MCI.