Does NMC need a revamp? Centre ropes in IIM

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that a recent Right to Information (RTI) application revealed that all the posts of the National Medical Commission (NMC) except the post of the Chairperson of the Commission and the President of the PG Medical Education Board are lying vacant. Providing an update on the appointment, the Health Ministry stated that "The process of appointment of eligible candidate to vacant post in NMC is under consideration."

NMC only has a Secretary now, who is responsible for leading the Commission and ensuring its effective functioning. Now, the Central Government is roping in IIMA for restructuring and reforming NMC. Commenting on this, one of the officials, familiar with the matter, told Mint, "Once these secretaries for all the four boards are appointed, then these boards will have uniformity and have to play roles as it is defined in the NMC Act. In the past, these boards have been working in silos and reluctant to share any information with the NMC leadership. The goal is only to improve the functioning of the commission, address gaps so as to strengthen the quality and standard of medical education in the country."

While queries sent to the Health Ministry in this regard went unanswered, a second official who recently got relieved from NMC informed, "Last year, the health ministry had sent a senior faculty member from IIM-A to NMC. The faculty member interacted with each of the four boards about their day-to-day activities and prepared a report..."

"One of the major concerns which was expressed by all the boards was shortage of manpower in the NMC and political interventions," the official added.

Meanwhile, the third former NMC official added that the IIM-A faculty member stayed at the Commission for 2-3 days and spoke to individual boards and collected inputs.

"Largely, the boards highlighted their scope of work and challenges they are facing," added the official.

Last year, the Union Health Ministry invited applications to fill up vacant posts in the four Autonomous Boards of NMC. Applications were invited for the posts of President, Secretary, and members of the Commission, along with the key positions in the four boards under the NMC. Recently, the Union Health Minister J.P Nadda told the reporters that the government is working on getting new recruitments completed at NMC.

Also Read: Top NMC posts remain vacant, health ministry responds