New Delhi|HL
Professor Suresh Chandra Sharma, Heading the ENT head-neck surgery Department of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be the first chairman of National Medical Commission (NMC), the new medical education regulator to replace scam-tainted Medical Council of India (MCI).
Rakesh Kumar Vats, the Secretary-General in the board of governors of the Medical Council of India, has been appointed as the secretary of the Commission for the similar term.
An order of the Department of Personnel on the selection of NMC chairperson said, “The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the following appointments in the National Medical Commission (NMC) for a period of three years or till they attain the age of 70 years or until further orders whichever is the earliest.
President Ram Nath Kovind had on August 8 given assent to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, 2019, which provides for a system that improves access to quality and affordable medical education and ensures availability of adequate and high quality medical professionals in all parts of the country, among others.
The new law provides for setting up of an NMC in place of the Medical Council of India for development and regulation of all aspects of medical education, profession and institutions. The president had dissolved the MCI in 2018 and a Board of Governors was appointed to perform its functions. At least 72 applications for NMC were received by the central government.
On the dissolution of the MCI, the person appointed as its chairman and others appointed as the member, any officer and other employee of the Council shall immediately vacate their respective offices, according to the provision of the NMC Act. The Commission will have a chairperson, 10 ex-officio members and 22 part-time members, according to the law.
Amid allegations of corruption against MCI office bearers and probes into opaque accreditation to medical colleges, the Supreme Court had in May 2016 directed the government to set up a committee with the authority to oversee all statutory functions of MCI till the new legislation comes in.
The newly appointed NMC chief hail from Jaipur- Rajasthan and had a long teaching career at the PGI, Chandigarh. Dr Sharma will retire from AIIMS on January 31 after which he will take over new post at NMC.
