The Medical Council of India, the national medical education regulator, was on Saturday dissolved in the wake of a recent corruption allegations. The MCI general council has been replaced by a six-member panel of eminent doctors, led by gastroenterologist S.K. Sarin.
Official sources stated that President Pratibha Patil signed the ordinance dissolving the MCI general council. The ordinance has also been notified by the Union law and justice ministry. Official sources stated that the six-member panel would be headed by Dr S.K. Sarin and the members will include Dr Ranjit Roy Chowdhary, Dr Sita Naik, Dr Gautam Sen, Dr Devi Shetty and Dr R.L. Salhan.
Dr Sarin is currently the director, professor of gastroenterology, at the G.B. Pant Hospital in the capital. He is an AIIMS alumnus and has been in several other government panels. “The panel will be in charge till the next one year,” health secretary Sujatha Rao said.
After allegations of corruption surfaced in the MCI, the government has also indicated that it would soon bring in a new law for the formation of an overarching body to regulate medical education in the country.
Ms Rao had said a draft law for the formation of such a body would be formulated within a month. She added that the draft law would be a legislative response to the credibility crisis which the MCI was in. “Another option is to bring in an amendment to the MCI Act of 1956 to give the government some power in the regulatory body,” she added.
MCI president Ketan Desai was arrested on April 22 by CBI for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs 2 crores to give permission to a Punjab medical college to recruit a fresh batch of students without fulfilling the established norms of the council. The Gujarat government has already placed Desai under suspension.