Meet the new Medical Regulators: AIIMS ENT HOD Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma appointed NMC Chairman, RK Vats as Secretary

NEW DELHI: Moving towards the replacement of the Medical Council of India with the National Medical Commission (NMC), the government has announced the appointment of Professor Suresh Chandra Sharma as the NMC Chairman and Dr RK Vats as the secretary of the Commission.

Both the appointments have been made for a period of three years or till the attainment of the age of 70 years by the respected appointees.

According to a Personnel Ministry order, Professor Suresh Chandra Sharma, who is currently the chief of Delhi AIIMS' ENT head-neck surgery department has been appointed the chairman of National Medical Commission, the new medical education regulator to replace scam-tainted Medical Council of India.

Rakesh Kumar Vats, the secretary-general in the board of governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI), has been appointed as the secretary of the Commission for the similar term.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Sharma for a period of three years or till the age of 70 years, it said.

Professor Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma- NMC President

Born in 1955, Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma did MBBS from SMS Medical College, Jaipur (Rajasthan), and MS (ENT) from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, (PGIMER) Chandigarh. After this, he worked as Faculty at PGI Chandigarh in various capacities till March 2000 when he joined the ENT department of AIIMS New Delhi. Since then, he has been an integral part of AIIMS, New delhi and credited with various developments at the department

At AIIMS along with Head & Neck Surgery, he developed Skull base surgery, and surgery for Head & neck Paraganglioma, Cochlear implant, Robotic and minimal invasive Surgery for Head & Neck tumours. He is actively involved in basic research in the field of Oral cancer and Cholesteatoma has numerous national, international accolades to his credit.

Besides his charge has HOD at AIIMS, he has also been nominated as President of AIIMS, Jodhpur, by Government of India.

Dr RK Vats- NMC Secretary

An Indian Administrative Services official from the 1986 West Bengal cadre, Vats serves as an additional secretary and financial advisor to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with administration of Central Government Health Scheme as Director-General and e-health programmes. He also served as the Chairman of the Drug Price Regulator, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) from April 2018 to November 2018

Dr. Vats has experience of working as Financial Adviser in the Ministry of Urban Development, in addition to the field experience of Revenue Administration in the Districts and Secretariat of the State Government.

Dr. Vats is a Medical Professional by education and has experience of working in Radiotherapy Department for 3 years before joining the administration. Many initiatives of the Ministry of Health in policy related to the use of drugs, medical devices and food standards have been his priority concerns.

Dr RK vats is currently the secretary-general in the MCI BOG and has been appointed as the secretary of the Commission for the similar term as the president.

As per the National Medical Commission Act, the Commission can have a chairperson, 10 ex-officio members and 22 part-time members, according to the law.

In the month of October 2019, 25 Members of the incoming National Medical Commission (NMC) a body that is going to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) were finalised by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare using a draw of lots

Read Also: Know your Medical Lawmakers: 25 members of National Medical Commission finalized, details

Before that the government had also announced the formation of the NMC Medical Advisory Council, that consisted of various ex-officio members, vice-chancellors of various state health universities as well as nominated members from the various state medical councils

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