Parliament Passes Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2019

Parliament has passed the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2019 with the Rajya Sabha approving it today. Lok Sabha has already passed the the bill. The Bill seeks  to supersede the Medical Council of India (MCI) for a period of two years with effect from 26 September, 2018, during which the Board of Governors will exercise the powers and functions of MCI as assigned under the IMC Act, 1956.

The bill aims at ensuring transparency, accountability and quality in the governance of medical education in the country. It also proposes to increase the number of members in the board of governors to twelve from the existing seven members. The bill will replace the ordinance promulgated in this regard.  Replying to a debate on the bill, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, to reform medical education is the need of the hour.

He said, the Board of Governors which replaced the Medical Council of India has worked well in the last eight months and taken a series of steps to improve medical education in the country. He said,  15 thousand more MBBS seats have been increased in 2019-20 and it granted permission for opening of 37 new medial colleges out of which 12 are private colleges. He said, the process of inspection of medical colleges will be done randomly.

Initiating the discussion, Ram Gopal Yadav of SP accused the government of delaying in bringing the National  Medical Commission bill after the Standing  Committee on Health presented its report much earlier.  Vikas Mahatame  of BJP also supported the bill and said medical seats have been increased by fifteen thousand  in the country.

Members from other political parties also participated in the discussion. – News On Air