The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the National Medical Commission Bill for replacing the 63-year-old Medical Council of India (MCI) with a new body. The government has called it one of the biggest reforms which will end the ‘inspector raj’ in the medical education sector.
The National Medical Commission Bill holds a provision for making the standards in medical education uniform across the country. The bill also proposes that the final year MBBS should be treated as an entrance test for the post-graduation medical courses.
The Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhana while addressing the Lok Sabha said that the legislation would be one of the biggest reforms in the country’s history and would establish a structure inorder to tackle the challenges faced by the medical education sector.
Vardhan further added “This exam, called the National Exit Test (NEXT), ensures that the proposed National Medical Commission (NMC) moves away from a system of repeated inspections of infrastructure to focus on outcomes rather than processes.”
However, Vardhan also put to rest the apprehensions over the bill. Vardhan added that the bill will help end the inspector raj and will also increase the number of seats in the medical colleges.
“The yearly inspections have been done away with. This move is expected to do away with inspection raj and foster addition of UG and PG seats in the country,” Vardhan added.
Source: PTI