New Delhi: Government is unlikely to
table in the monsoon session of Parliament the National
Council for Human Resources in Health Bill (NCHRH) to regulate
medical education in the country.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said the Bill
which proposes an overarching body to regulate registration
and accreditation of medical colleges and preparation of their
curricula was not likely to be tabled in Parliament in the
coming session.
"The Bill will not be tabled in this session," he told
agency on the sidelines of `India Diabetes Summit`.
Approved by the Health Minister earlier and sent to
the Cabinet Secretariat more than two months ago for being
placed before the Cabinet, the Bill proposes a National
Committee for Accreditation and a National Medical Education
and Training Board for the registration and accreditation of
medical colleges and preparation of curricula in the area.
It draws a distinction between the power of the
regulator to set standards and the power to grant licence to
practice medicine.
Top sources in the Health Ministry said the Bill was
sent for approval more than two months back. Once the proposed
authority comes into effect, the MCI`s role would shrink and
it would no longer have the power to regulate medical
institutions.
The proposed Council will be a 15-member body, which
will supervise the other proposed bodies under it.
The Bill`s original draft contained the word
"Commission" which was replaced with "Council" to avoid any
confusion with the HRD Ministry’s National Commission for
Higher Education and Research Bill which proposes an
overarching regulator for the higher education sector.
The HRD Ministry had sought to include medical
education under the ambit of its Bill. But the Health Ministry
has all along argued for the retention of medical education
under the NCHRH Bill.
PTI
