India’s top medical regulatory body, the Medical Council of India facing charges of corruption was dissolved by an ordinance signed by the President of India, Pratibha Patil.
India’s top medical regulatory body, the Medical Council of India (MCI) facing charges of corruption was dissolved by an ordinance signed by the President of India, Pratibha Patil on Saturday. Without the ordinance, there was no law to empower the government to take action against the MCI because it was created by an Act of Parliament.
The government has inserted Article 3 (a) while amending the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. The ordinance establishes that the views of the government of India will prevail in matters of “national policy.” The government has appointed a six-member interim body of medical experts to act as a medical regulatory body. Dr. S.K. Sarin, Department of Gastroenterology, G.B. Pant Hospital will be the Chairman of the Board of Governors. The other members are: Dr. Devi Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya in Bangalore; Dr. Gautam Sen, former Dean of the J.J. Hospital Mumbai; Dr. Sita Nayik of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Medical Institute in Lucknow; Dr. Ranjit Roy Chowdhury, clinical pharmacologist and Emeritus Scientist at the National Institute of Immunology, and Dr. S.M. Salhan, Dean of Sikkim-Manipal University.The government of India had to intervene and restore credibility to the MCI after the CBI arrested its president Dr. Ketan Desai on charges of corruption.
Source-Medindia
THK