User Voice : From Vtharavath : What made govt to dissolve MCI

Dear Sir.

You can understand why and for what the govt has taken the advantage of allegations on Dr Desai to dissolve the MCI.There was no need of dissolving MCI on the basis of the allegations on Dr.Desai. The Govt should have taken legal actions against him rather than dissolving the MCI. The following paragraph quoted from the report attached with this mail makes it clear why the govt dissolved MCI.Please read the attached file.

“Legal Scenario and Current Developments. The idea of mid-level practitioners trained over shorter periods has been mooted in the past in India too: by the country’s National Health Policy 2002, and more recently by a Task Force on Medical Education for the National Rural Health Mission (GoI 2006). Eachtime it has been shot down by the medical fraternity, supported by the Indian Medical Council (imc) Act of 1956 that prohibits any health cadre without a graduate medical qualification from practising modern medicine. Nonetheless a few Indian states have enacted new legislation to start such courses. Chhattisgarh and West Bengal have invoked their special state powers under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, to develop three year diploma courses for “Practitioners of Modern and Holistic Medicine” in Chhattisgarh (GoC 2008-09) and “Rural Health Providers” in West Bengal (GoWB 2009).

In November 2009, the authors of this article initiated a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court challenging the IMC Act and asking the government to take action on developing primary health providers for rural areas, more specifically along the lines of its Task Force report recommendations. The health ministry responded positively, but chose to ignore the greater wisdom and expertise of its own Task Force report by placing the entire responsibility for this innovative and socially oriented endeavour on the Medical Council of India (MCI). The MCI is a professional association of medical doctors, with a long history of corruption in medical education (Pandya 2009). On these and other grounds the high court rejected the ministry’s rejoinders and sought repeated clarifications on the Task Force recommendations (Meenakshi Gautham and Anr vs Union of India 2010). The matter is currently sub judice. However, in another recent development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has finally arrested the MCI president on corruption charges (Mudur 2010) and the entire body is under the CBI scanner. We hope that this indictment of the MCI will urge the ministry to reformulate its response, unfettered by any direct or indirect MCI influence, and guided only by the greater common good. Ideally, state governments, guided by a central advisory body, should develop, implement and regulate the shorter courses so that they can be responsive to local conditions, rather than follow a one-size-fitsall formula prescribed by a central body. To bring immediate relief to our rural communities, such courses should necessarily begin by recruiting, training and certifying existing informal practitioners, ANMs, pharmacists and practitioners of indigenous systems who already live and practice in rural and remote areas. We also hope that this article will encourage health practitioners and activists to question the relevance of existing medical education models and press for reforms that respond to local needs.”

regards

vtharavath