The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health on Tuesday rejected the Government’s proposal to allow practitioners of alternative medicine to deal in modern medicines but approved replacing the corruption-ridden Medical Council of India (MCI) with a National Medical Commission.
In its much awaited report on the National Medical Commission Bill-which moots a commission to replace the MCI- the panel rejected cross-discipline permissions, and called for criminal action against medical professionals who practise without requisite qualifications.
Among the panel’s suggestions-made in an attempt to curb corruption that is witnessed in the MCI-is that all NMC members should declare in advance their conflict of interests as well as personal assets.
The panel headed by Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav said the ‘bridge course’, proposed in the NMC Bill, to allow practitioners of alternative medicines such as homoeopathy and ayurveda to practise allopathy, should not be made a mandatory provision.
Noting that every state has its own specific healthcare challenges, the panel recommended that the state governments may implement measures to enhance the capacity of existing healthcare professionals, including AYUSH practitioners, B.Sc (Nursing), BDS, B.Pharma and others to address their specific primary healthcare issues in rural areas.
The panel also suggested that the central government should consider using the MBBS final year examinations to assess medical graduates instead of conducting exit examinations as suggested in the Bill, and let also allow states to conduct the examination.
Although panel generally approved of replacing the MCI with a new body, it said that the replacement commission should have a higher elected component than the one the Bill proposes.
It also recommended mandatory rural posting for all MBBS doctors and prescribing a period of compulsory working in the country for Indian medical graduates and postgraduates to prevent them from leaving immediately after graduation.
The NMC Bill, 2017, which seeks to replace the existing apex medical education regulator, the Medical Council of India (MCI), with a new body, was moved by the government in Parliament on December 29.
Following opposition from the medical fraternity over different provisions of the proposed legislation, one of which was the ‘bridge course’, the Bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
The panel, however, acknowledged the need to build the capacity of existing human resources in the healthcare sector, to address shortage of professionals.