Medical council under govt scanner

Union Minister for Health Harsh Vardhan on Sunday announced the central government would look into the functioning of the Medical Council of India (MCI), the country's medical education regulator, as it (the council's functioning) created doubts.

"The way MCI functions is a serious issue for the country. Its work creates doubts. Our government will study its functioning authoritatively. Whatever deficiency is noticed, it will be removed," Vardhan told reporters here in response to a question about how MCI was granting recognition to private medical colleges with inadequate infrastructure and facilities, while decreasing seats in various state government-run medical colleges.

This is not the first time the government has raised questions over the functioning of MCI. Vardhan had lambasted MCI earlier this month too and termed it as a "Pandora's Box".

The minister was on a three-day visit to Bihar to get a first-hand account of death of children in Muzaffarpur and adjoining districts due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). Since the outbreak of the disease three weeks ago, more than 140 children, mostly below the age of six, have succumbed to AES and around 700 have been hospitalised.

The reasons behind the disease are still not known.