Draw of lots to be held for selecting members of NMC, says Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi [India], Oct 4 (ANI): A draw of lots will take place on October 14 for selecting members of the National Medical Commission (NMC) which will replace the existing system of Medical Council of India, said the Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday.

On August 8, the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 received the assent of the President. Thereafter, the Union Health Ministry sent letters to all State government and State Medical Councils (SMCs) for recommending members to Medical Advisory Council (MAC) which would be a larger body that will have representatives from all the states.

"After the approval of the President, NMC Act has been notified. Now we are working towards the establishment of NMC and written to the state governments to give nominations from their states. We have received some nominations here and on October 14 we are going to conduct a draw of lots to choose members of NMC which is the biggest reform in the medical education sector," said Vardhan.

"Nominations for MAC will be done before October 14 and then the members of the MAC will do the draw of lots scheduled for October 14 for the members of NMC," a senior health ministry official said.

Till date, 22 SMC nominations and 23 VC nominations for MAC have been received. About 72 applications for NMC have also been received.

In the meantime, BoG MCI has been requested to prepare draft guidelines for fee regulations so that they can be used as a base document by NMC.