NMC refuses to disclose Details Of Assets and liabilities of its members, RTI unanswered

New Delhi: Silence on the part of the National Medical Commission (NMC) regarding the recent Right to Information (RTI) application seeking details of asset disclosure of the members of the Commission is being questioned by the doctors.

It is mandatory for the Chairperson and every member of NMC to declare their assets and liabilities at the time of entering the office and at the time of emitting it. While Kerala-based Ophthalmologist and health activist Dr. Babu KV has already filed two RTI applications in this regard, NMC has not given any answer.

Commenting on this, Dr. Babu told Medical Dialogues, "It was lack of transparency on the part of the MCI which led to its removal and replacement with the NMC. In two years time, the NMC have proven it's more opaque than the MCI, neither posting the details on the website, not responding to email's and even dragging response to RTI applications."

The first application was filed on April 5 and referring to Section 6(6) of the NMC Act 2019, Dr. Babu sought the details of disclosure by the Chairman and members of NMC along with the details of disclosure by those who demitted NMC. Again, another application was filed by him on May 6, 2023. However, he did not receive any response from the Commission.

According to the concerned Section 6(6) of the NMC Act 2019, "The Chairperson and every member of the Commission shall make declaration of his assets and his liabilities at the time of entering upon his office and at the time of demitting his office and also declare his professional and commercial engagement or involvement in such form and manner as may be prescribed, and such declaration shall be published on the website of the Commission."

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Meanwhile, the tenure of several members of NMC ended in September last year. However, their details have not been uploaded on the website of the Commission. The tenure of the first chairperson of the Commission, Dr. Suresh Chandra Sharma still continues. 

Writing to the NMC Chairman, RTI activist Dr. Babu also referred to the 92nd Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, which had recommended disbanding of the erstwhile Medical Council of India.

"Keeping all these facts in mind, the Committee is convinced that the much-needed reforms will have to be led by the Central Government. The MCI can no longer be entrusted with that responsibility in view of its massive failures. The people of India will not be well-served by letting the modus operandi of MCI continue unaltered to the detriment of medical education and decay of health system," the Parliamentary panel had mentioned in its report. Opining MCI to be "opaque and skewed", the panel had recommended urgent measures to restructure the composition of MCI.

Referring to the fact that MCI was ultimately replaced by NMC because of the concerns regarding its lack of transparency, Dr. Babu urged the NMC Chairman, "In this context, I request you to comply by the Section 6(6) of the NMC Act 2019 & make it transparent in functioning."

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