What has been done to fill 19 vacant NMC posts? Health Ministry Faces Tough Questions in Parliament

New Delhi: Altogether 19 posts are lying vacant in four autonomous boards of the National Medical Commission (NMC), the Union Minister of State for Health Smt Anupriya Patel informed the Rajya Sabha recently. These vacant posts include the posts of Presidents of the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB), Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), and the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB).

Besides, the posts of two whole-time and two part-time members each of the NMC UG and PG Board, Medical Assessment and Rating Board and NMC Ethics Board are also lying vacant.

The MoS Health further informed that to fill up the posts, advertisements have been published in English and Hindi national daily newspapers on 31/08/2024 and 11/10/2024 and applications have been invited in this regard.

Smt Patel provided this information while responding to the queries raised in this regard by parliament member A.D. Singh. He sought clarification from the Health Ministry on whether posts of several members to four autonomous boards of the National Medical Commission have been lying vacant for quite some time. He also sought the details of the vacant posts, sought to know from when these posts were vacant, and also about the details of the efforts being taken to fill those posts at the earliest.

Also Read: Top NMC posts still lying vacant! Here's what Health Ministry said

In response, the MoS Health informed "The details of vacant posts in the four autonomous boards namely Under Graduate Medical Education Board, Post Graduate Medical Education Board, Medical Assessment & Rating Board and Ethics & Medical Registration Board of the National Medical Commission are at Annexure. To fill up the vacant posts, advertisements have been published in English and Hindi national daily newspapers on 31/08/2024 and 11/10/2024 inviting applications from the eligible professionals."

As per the details provided by the Minister, the posts of one whole time member of UGMEB, one whole-time member of PGMEB and one part-time member of EMRB have been vacant since September 2020. Thereafter, from September 2022, 1 part-time post of UG Board, 1 of PG Board and MARB each, and 1 whole-time member post of EMRB fell vacant.

Several key posts such as the post of President of NMC UGMEB (September), 1 post of UGMEB Whole-time member (September), President of MARB (June), 1 post of Whole-time member of MARB (June), and 1 post of Whole-time member (September) of EMRB became vacant in 2024.

Apart from these, the details shared by MoS Health revealed that the posts of 1 part-time member of UGMEB, PGMEB, MARB and EMRB each are vacant since January 2025.

Kerala-based Health Activist Dr KV Babu had earlier filed several Right to Information (RTI) application seeking the details of the vacant posts in the National Medical Commission.

Earlier, providing an update on the appointment, the Health Ministry had informed that "The process of appointment of eligible candidate to vacant post in NMC is under consideration."

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that last year, the Union Health Ministry had 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.

However, as per the data provided by the MoS Health in the Rajya Sabha, now 19 posts in the NMC autonomous boards are lying vacant. Responding to the data shared by the Health Ministry, Dr. Babu questioned in an X (formerly Twitter) post why the process of making new appointments in the NMC got delayed.

"The @MoHFW_INDIA invited applications for those posts in the @NMC_BHARAT which were falling vacant by 25/09/24 just three weeks earlier on 31/08/24 ! What was the purpose of "delaying the process" to the 11th hour ? To keep it vacant & run it by GOI nominated functionaries ?" Dr. Babu's X post read.

Also Read: Top NMC posts lying vacant for months- Check out Health Ministry update