The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
The legislation, which was introduced in the Lower House on December 15 by Union Health Minister JP Nadda, aims to supersede the Medical Council of India and hand over its responsibilities to a Board of Governors. The bill is part of efforts to set up an alternative regulatory mechanism for medical education and bring in transparency and quality.
However, opposition members in the Lok Sabha had earlier moved statutory resolutions disapproving the bill, the The Financial Express reported.
Opposing the bill, Kollam MP NK Premchandran described the amendment as unnecessary, The Hindu reported. “The bill needs to strengthen the medical facilities and improve health care, medical science and technology,” said the Revolutionary Socialist Party legislator. “The government has an agenda behind pushing the bill.”
Nadda, however, said that even a parliamentary committee had observed that the Medical Council of India was incapable of improving medical education in the country. “Governors of pioneer institutes should look after the education, is what we propose,” he said during the discussion in the Lower House.
The National Medical Commission Bill, 2017, which seeks to replace the Medical Council of India with the National Medical Commission, was also expected to come up for discussion in the House on Monday. The bill had been introduced in the Lok Sabha in December last year.
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