New Delhi: Many key posts are lying vacant in the National Medical Commission (NMC) – the regulator of medical education and medical practice in India.
The New Indian Express, quoting a Right to Information reply, has reported that 10 out of 19 posts are not occupied. Two of them are in the Postgraduate Medical Education Board. This Board regulates PG medical courses and super-speciality courses for medical colleges. Similarly, three positions have not been occupied for the board regulation undergraduate medical courses
The Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), a Board under the NMC, evaluates medical colleges – both private and public – on various parameters pertaining quality of education and the human resources. It carries out inspections to do the same; also grants permission to new medical colleges for becoming functional. Four positions at the MARB are also vacant.
Another key board at the NMC is the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB). The EMRB looks into cases of professional misconduct of the doctors. They also have to register at the EMRB to obtain a licence to practice – through various state medical councils. Three out of the five positions remain unoccupied. Even the post of the president of the board has been vacant for quite some time.
The RTI reply given in October, given by the Union health ministry, said that the appointments to various posts at the NMC were under process. The NMC comes under the health ministry.
The Union government replaced the Medical Commission of India with NMC in 2020 with an aim of streamlining medical education and getting rid of problems within the MCI. However, the NMC has also been under the radar for various reasons in the past, including internal conflicts within its various boards, hesitance to release inspection reports of medical colleges in public domains and changing the official logo by introducing Dhanvantri – a Hindu deity – in it, in a move that many doctors questioned.
