NMC running with boards handicapped by vacancies Board On New Colleges, Courses Has Just A Part-Time Member

NMC running with boards handicapped by vacancies Board On New Colleges, Courses Has Just A Part-Time Member 

Rema.Nagarajan@timesofindia.com 28.09.2024

Four years after the National Medical Commission (NMC) was constituted, the posts of several members of its four autonomous boards are lying vacant. While the health minister talked of creating 75,000 MBBS seats in the next five years, the board responsible for regulating this process now has just one part-time member whose tenure ends in Dec. The five-member Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), which includes the president of the board, has only Dr Urmila Singh, a parttime member appointed for a two-year term in Dec 2022. In fact, if one goes by the information on the commission’s website, MARB has no members at all as of now. However, the NMC issued a notice last week inviting applications for starting new post graduate medical courses and for establishing new standalone post graduate institutes. The board gives permission to start new medical colleges, new PG courses or increase the number of seats.

According to the NMC Act, “Each autonomous board shall consist of a president and two wholetime members and two part-time members”. The tenure of the president and the wholetime members is four years and that of part-time members is two years. While the website shows MARB as being empty and other fivemember boards as having just two members each, the tenure of most members came to an end on Tuesday (Sept 24). However, the website does not reflect the appointment of one part-time member for each board made in Dec 2022. 

According to the website, the Ethics and Medical Registration Board has no president but has two whole-time members. Their tenure has ended, and the part-time member appointed in Dec 2022, Dr Shahjanand Prasad, does not figure on the website. In the Post-Graduate Medical Education Board, there is just the president, Dr Vijay Oza, who  was appointed as a member in Sept 2020 and later made president, and one parttime member Dr K Senthil, appointed in Dec 2022. 

The Under Graduate Medical Education Board has the president, Dr Aruna V Vanikar, and a whole-time member Dr Vijayendra Kumar, both appointed on September 25, 2020, which means their tenure has ended and one part-time member Dr Pallavi Saple. According to the NMC Act, three months before the end of a member’s tenure, the matter must be referred to the Search Committee for filling up the vacancy. TOI’s queries to the health ministry and the NMC regarding these vacancies in the autonomous boards did not receive any response.