Centre sets up National Medical Commission, abolishes MCI

New Delhi : Putting into effect the 'historic reforms' in the field of medical education, the Union government has set up the National Medical Commission (NMC) along with four other autonomous boards while abolishing the MCI.

The Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Education Boards, Medical Assessment and Rating Board, and Ethics and Medical Registration Board have been constituted to help the NMC in day-to-day functioning. The four boards come into existence with effect from Friday. The decades-old Medical Council of India (MCI) stands abolished.

The reforms are aimed to steer the country's medical education towards a transparent, qualitative and accountable system. The basic change is that the regulator is now 'selected' on merit, as opposed to an 'elected' regulator.

Men and Women with impeccable integrity, professionalism, experience, and stature have now been placed at the helm to steer the medical education reforms further. The notifications in this regard were issued on September 24.

Dr SC Sharma (retired Professor of ENT Department, AIIMS, Delhi) has been selected as the NMC Chairperson for three years. The NMC will also have 10 ex-officio members, including Presidents of the four autonomous boards; Dr Jagat Ram, Director of PGIMER, Chandigarh; Dr Rajendra A Badwe, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai; and Dr Surekha Kishore, Executive Director, AIIMS, Gorakhpur.