Gazette confirms appointment of Dr Achal Gulati as President, NMC Ethics and Medical Registration Board

According to the confirmation from a gazette notification dated 24th May 2021, issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 16 read with section 18 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, the Central Government has made the appointment of Dr Gulati as the president for Ethics and Medical Registration Board. He was directed to hold the office for the balance period of his four-year term of appointment to be counted from the date of his initial appointment i.e. 25.09.2020.

Currently, the board consists of Dr Vijay Lakshmi Nag, Dr. Yogender Malik and Dr. Nishant Warwade as members.

Ethics and Medical Registration Board is one of the autonomous boards of the NMC mainly dealing with the maintenance of the National Registers of all licensed medical practitioners. It regulates professional conduct and promotes medical ethics in accordance with the regulations made under the NMC Act.

The NMC Ethics and Medical Registration Board ensures compliance with the code of professional and ethical conduct through the State Medical Council in a case where such State Medical Council has been conferred power to take disciplinary actions in respect of professional or ethical misconduct by medical practitioners under respective State Acts. The board has been given the authority to develop mechanisms to have continuous interaction with State Medical Councils to effectively promote and regulate the conduct of medical practitioners and professionals as well as exercise appellate jurisdiction with respect to the actions taken by a State Medical Council.

"Medical Registration for doctors has become a major issue across the country, with problems such duplicate registrations with various councils as well as outdated information. Our main thrust will be to computerisation and digitisation of doctors' records and creation of an online National Medical Register that will contain all information about doctors. Our focus will be the online integration of the NMC as well as the respective state medical councils and medical colleges to ensure hassel free registration process for doctors and transparency in employement at medical colleges," Dr Gulati informed Medical Dialogues.

An ENT passout from PGI Chandigarh, Dr Achal Gulati was associated with Maulana Azad Medical College for 30 years, till the Government entrusted him with the responsibility of establishing a new medical college, the Dr BSA Medical College, New Delhi, where he is currently serving as the Director Principal of ENT.

He has been the recipient of numerous orations and awards, including amongst others the "National Eminent Teacher of Excellence Award" by the Government of India, "Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan National Award" for Eminent Teacher, the "State Award for Contribution to the Field of Medicine", "The Great Teaching Master Award", "Times Research Media Excellence Award in Healthcare."

He was also associated with the erstwhile Medical Council of India in various capacities and also served as the chairperson of the Under Graduate Expert Group of the MCI.

A fellow of the International Medical Science Academy and Fellow of the Indian Academy of Otolaryngology & Head & Neck Surgery, Dr Gulati has all-round varied interests ranging from professional excellence in the field of Head and Neck Surgery and Endoscopic Sinus Surgery to the field of Medical education.

In the past, he has been a member of the Postgraduate Committee of the Medical Council of India, the Board of Research Studies of various universities, the Specialty Board for ENT and Ethics Committee in the National Board, advisor to the Centre on Noise Pollution, has been on numerous committees on curriculum planning for the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and is on the editorial board of National and International journals. He has been a contributor to the new MCI competency-based curriculum.

Dr Gulati is a visiting professor to the Mayo Clinic, USA and the University of Padua, Italy. He has been an honorary faculty member of the Medical Education Unit of Regional Centre at MAMC, has been conducting training workshops for teacher training.

He has held numerous posts in prestigious medical associations, including member of Board of Governors of the International Rhinologic Society, the current President of the Indian Society of Rhinoplasty, the former President of the All India Rhinology Society, the Honorary Secretary of the All India Rhinology Society, as well as the President of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India (Delhi State).