Mr. Chairman, Sir, I am thankful to
you for allowing me to participate on this important Bill concerning the common
man. I really appreciate the Government that it has come up with this Bill at a
right time. The Medical Council of India is envisaged primarily as a
recommendatory body. One of its objectives is to maintain standard in the
medical education through curriculum guidelines and inspections, and to grant
permission to start colleges, courses or increasing number of seats. The reason
I touched upon the objective of the Medical Council of India was to bring to
the notice of the Government that the country now needs more than 100 medical
colleges to fulfil the requirement of doctors. Many medical colleges in the
country are facing acute shortage of faculty. I must thank the Government
that it has realized the140
importance of implementing various recommendations made in the past on the need
for reforms in regulation of medical education in160 the country. I am sure that the
Government will achieve its objective through this Bill.
Sir,
many medical professionals in the country have expressed their view that the
Medical Council of India has become a non-representative body with a gross
disparity in the representation of Members from various States. There are
sections of the medical fraternity like the Army and the Indian Council of
Medical Research that are under-represented. Moreover, in the Medical Council
of India, there must be uniformity in representation of States. The new system
would put an end to the overarching, extra-constitutional authority resting with
the national policing body, courtesy which doctors enjoyed prolonged tenures,
with Members serving even their fourth or fifth terms. I stress that280 the terms of Members should be fixed for
not more than two times and each term should be of four years. Similarly, a
provision of removal of the President as in the case of other important posts, should
be brought in. 320 Members of both
the Houses of Parliament should also be considered for the
ex-officio posts. This will help to make the Medical Council of India
more effective. When we talk about an institution, which represents the health
sector, it is of paramount importance to mention here about the problems relating
to health sector in the country. Today, health and education are the two
sectors which are growing in a rapid manner keeping in view the hefty return
involved in these two newfound segments. Today in every nook and corner of the
country, we can see hospitals run by private420
sector sponsored by leading hospital chains as well as medium and small
business groups. It is really a welcome step. I appreciate that by way of these
hospitals we can certainly reduce the pressure on the Government hospitals. But
at the same time, what I am surprised to find is that there are
no regulatory bodies to keep a control480
on these hospitals run by the private sector. I have information that in one of
the hospitals of Fortis, a patient was left to die due to cardiac arrest on the
bed within the hospital, and it shows their inability, their carelessness and
the quality of the doctors employed. That is why, I am demanding for a
regulatory body to keep an eye on the hospitals in the private sector. There
should be something to take note of the560
reasons for large-scale casualties in the private hospitals. There should be
some analyzing method to ascertain why such large-scale casualties are taking
place in private hospitals. There should be some stipulation about the recruitment
of doctors and other paramedical staff in private hospitals. There should
also be some condition of pay and allowances to doctors and employees
working in the private hospitals. Unless you have qualified doctors and staff
with relevant qualification and experience, they cannot deliver the goods. We
cannot640 allow the rising
unwanted casualties in private hospitals. There should also be some stricture
on the charges these private hospitals are charging from the patients. I hope
the hon. Minister will take note of it and come with necessary action in this
regard.
Sir, I would like to bring certain
important facts before the hon. Minister. We were expecting700 a vision document by the Medical Council
of India as it is long overdue. By bringing out this important document, we
would come to know about the objectives of Medical Council of India in the
current scenario, and whether any amendments have been brought about in the guidelines
of Medical Council of India. Despite the claims of Medical Council of India,
there seems to be lack of transparency and accountability in the functioning of
the premier institution. This Bill too envisages that the Medical Council of
India would be bringing in transparency and accountability in its functioning.
I hope that renewed800 efforts
would be made to ensure that transparency and accountability is in
place, in letter and spirit, in the Medical Council of India in the days ahead.
The Medical Council of India, which is an apex body in the840 Indian medical arena, is supposed to
look after the premier work proceedings of one of the most important areas,
that is health. They should be duty-bound enough and understand that their
contribution to the nation is of great importance. The Indian Medical Association
is the largest non-Governmental organization of the medical practitioners in
the country. The Medical Council of India is a body that truly represents the
members of the medical community. In a way, I can say that it is very important
that for efficient working of any professional body its autonomy bears utmost
importance. This will instil confidence among the medical professionals and the
society. It represents the voice of the medical practitioners from all over the
country. 960 I would request
the hon. Minister to give some power to the functioning of the Medical Council
of India in980 a manner
beneficial for the medical community, and the general public. I hope that
transparency and accountability would be in place in letter and spirit. However,
I want to know the guidelines for selection of the members of the Board of
Governors.
Hon. Chairperson, the Minister can
recollect that I had put my objections against this kind of Bill. Time and
again, charges of corruption have been raised against the Indian Medical Council,
but the Union Government was reluctant to interfere in the matter. When the
former Chairman got arrested, the question arose whether the Indian Medical
Council will be banished. This sort of attitude is very much objectionable. If
we say that the former Chairman of the Central Vigilance Commission is corrupt,
are you in a position to banish the Central Vigilance Commission itself? An
assurance was given that1120
they are going to form a Board of Governors and the instruction was that within
one year the Indian Medical Council will be constituted. But this amendment
Bill is quite disappointing. It proposes to extend the constitution of the
Indian Medical Council for one year. This is in a sense not only the extension
of the period for formation of the Indian Medical Council but also the
extension of the Board of Governors for one more year. What is this
Board of Governors? This is an idea of corporatizing the things and only giving
the benefit to the Board of Governors. It is rightly stated that you have
formed a Board of Governors, but you would not change the system. The logic
given is that meanwhile the Government has initiated a proposal to set up an
overarching regulatory body. 1260
But the Minister himself has failed to give us the timeframe. I do not know
whether it is drafted or1280
not. It has not been brought before this august House. It has not been
discussed even in the Standing Committee. So, there is a doubt that by this
year the proposal for overarching body will come in this august House. So, everything
is to maintain the present system, so far as this medical council arena is
concerned. That is why, this is very much disappointing. During the
discussions, we raised the point that you are going to form the Board of
Governors. In fact, you are going to curtail every right of the autonomous body
of the Indian Medical Council. You are strengthening the bureaucratic
intervention in this arena. You are going to strengthen the Government
intervention in this arena, 1400
and you are attacking the basic essence of that authority of the autonomous
body. This is very much disappointing. That is why, I once again put my
objections, oppose this sort of Bill, oppose the very attitude of the1440 Government in this regard,
particularly, the very report on the medical arena of our country. That is why,
I think the Government would think over it. At least, the Government would
assure us that it is not going to extend further, and it will not bring another
amendment in the next Parliament Session to this effect.
Sir, I cannot support this amendment
because the hon. Minister is shifting from his earlier commitment of
restoration of the Medical Council of India just after one year. In the name of
forming an over-arching body, the hon. Minister is undermining the autonomy,
the independence and the self-exercising power of a body which was formed by an
Act of this Parliament. It cannot be done away with by the whims
and fancies of a Minister. Being a member of the Standing Committee, I
wanted that it should be sent to the Standing Committee for discussion.
But considering the previous experience of the Ministry, they did1600 not allow us to ponder over the merits
and demerits of the amendments.
