Medical Council of India (MCI)

What is MCI?
It is the statutory body for establishing uniform and high standards of medical education in India.

Q A
What is MCI?
  • Formed in 1933
  • HQ – New Delhi
  • It is the statutory body for establishing uniform and high standards of medical education in India. The Council grants recognition of medical qualifications, gives accreditation to medical schools, grants registration to medical practitioners, and monitors medical practice in India.
Why it has been controversial in the past?
  • MCI was temporarily superseded six years ago in the wake of a corruption scandal.
  • The functioning of the MCI has been controversial on several counts, culminating in the arrest of its president in 2010 on a graft charge.
What is the view of union executive?
  • In December, the Centre acknowledged the need to modernise the Medical Council of India (MCI).
What is the view of recent report of Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare?
  • It has expressed shock in a recent report tabled in Parliament that a body like the MCI, which sets ethical norms for medical professionals, could itself be headed by someone who was arrested for corruption.
  • The report is a severe indictment of the Council and the Centre, for failing to stop the sale of medical seats in private colleges for capitation fees going up to Rs.50 lakh, and allowing a single, all-powerful agency heavily influenced by corporate hospitals to provide accreditation to institutions and assess their quality, ignoring blatant conflicts of interest.
What should be done?
  • Clearly, a thorough clean-up in the manner medical education and health-care institutions are regulated is overdue; no compromise should be made on transparency, public interest and the highest ethical standards in doing this.
  • Comprehensive reform of the MCI should begin with the separation of functions: approving standards and accreditation requirements for medical education, fixing norms to assess the competence of medical graduates and laying down ethical practice guidelines.

WORD FROM TEAM GS-SCORE –

Relevant for

Health; Governance (regulatory bodies) of GS:2
For further detail Refer article titled “Medical Council needs urgent therapy” from The Hindu dated April 2, 2016

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