Bill in LS to extend tenure of MCI Board of Governors

The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2012, provides for extending the board's tenure till May 2013. The current tenure of the board is coming to an end on May 14.

The amendment, moved by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, seeks to extend the tenure of the board from the present two years to three years and supersedes the amendment moved last year.

The Indian Medical Council Act was amended after the body was dissolved in 2010 following arrest of its then president Ketan Desai by the CBI on charges of corruption.

According to the Bill, after the 2011 amendment extending the tenure of the board from one year to two years the government initiated a proposal to set up a National Commission for Human Resources for Health as an overarching regulatory body which could subsume councils like the MCI and the Dental Council of India in it.

As the a National Commission for Human Resources for Health Bill, 2011 is being scrutinised by a Parliamentary panel and the entire process of enacting the proposed legislation will take more time and the term of the board is coming to an end later this month, the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill was introduced.

Either the MCI would be reconstituted or an overarching body established within the extended one year period, the statement of objects and reasons of the bill reads. PTI NAB SMI