The committee formed by the government to look into the functioning of the Medical Council of India (MCI) will submit its report by month-end, Health Minister J P Nadda informed Rajya Sabha today.
Replying to a debate on the working of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, he said the committee formed at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also suggest measures for improvement in the overall functioning of the the medical education regulator.
"The Supreme Court has given its judgement. We had one and a half months ago formed a committee to look into the activities of MCI and suggest measures for improvement and what needs to be done there. The committee has to give its report by May-end," he said.
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The government had formed a four-member committee, headed by NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Pangariya, to suggest an implementation framework for restructuring of MCI and bring an improvement in its functioning.
A Parliamentary panel had earlier also suggested restructuring the medical education regulator in the wake on increased complaints about corruption in MCI.
On the contentious National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to all medical colleges, Nadda said the government's stand has been in favour of holding the single entrance exam and steps will be taken to address concerns of the students.
"It has been our stand to hold NEET. It will keep a check on private medical colleges. We will proceed with NEET and take corrective measures on what needs to be done to take care of student's concerns," the Minister added.
On concerns over the issue of health insurance, Nadda said the model is in "question".
"There are questions over the insurance model and we are thinking of going for the trusts model," he added replying to concerns raised by members over health insurance not reaching the common man to provide free health services to them.
On health insurance, Nadda said the government is working
towards making it cashless and moving over to digital as well as ensuring its security.
"We are working towards cashless health insurance and making it digital. We are working on ensuring its security so that money can be directly sent to institutions. We also want to link it to Aadhaar card and we are trying to work this out," the Health Minister said.
On affordable medicine, Nadda said the government has decided to open 390 AMRUT shops across the country this year, a move that will help in providing affordable medicines to the common man.
"We are ready to open AMRUT shops if states want to set them up. We have decided to open 390 such shops this year," he added.
The Minister claimed that government has helped bring down the prices of medicines used for cancer treatment by 60-90 per cent and of implants by 60-70 per cent.
Talking about the pharma industry, he said government has ensured that the industry grows well, but steps have been taken to ensure that production of fake medicines should stop.
"We have stopped production of 344 fixed dose combinations... Indian pharma industry has saved African nations from HIV. We have tried to ensure that our pharma industry should grow and they have become a challenge to the West," Nadda said.
Speaking on the government's efforts, the Minister said India's record in the rate of decline of Infant Mortality Rate, Mother Mortality Rate and Total Fertility Rate is better than the global standards.
He, however said there are challenges related to the health services in North India, human resources in health sector, issue of non-communicable diseases as well as the rising incidence of lifestyle and environment-related diseases.
On TB treatment, Nadda said to ensure that the treatment is more effective the government is conducting a nationwide anti-TB drug resistance survey.
