India
Health ministry has power to make NMC obey law, but turns blind eye to violations | India News
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Though the Central government’s control over the National Medical Commission (NMC) is written into the 2019 NMC Act, the union health ministry has remained silent in the face of several complaints against the total lack of transparency in the commission’s functioning. The NMC’s repeated flouting of the right to information (RTI) Act and even the NMC Act have been ignored by the ministry.
The NMC Act states: “Chairperson and every member of the Commission shall make declaration of his assets and his liabilities at the time of entering upon his office and at the time of demitting his office and also declare his professional and commercial engagement or involvement in such form and manner as may be prescribed, and such declaration shall be published on the website of the Commission.” Yet, to date, despite several reminders to the NMC chairperson, no such declaration has been published on the website. Mails to the NMC chairperson and an RTI application and appeals pertaining to non-disclosure of assets have received no response.
After an RTI activist received no response to his letter to the health minister, an RTI application filed by him to the ministry’s medical education section revealed that the letter had not reached the section. “The ministry seems to be selective about its efficiency. Last year, when a citizen wrote to the minister regarding integration of Ayurveda into MBBS curriculum, the letter was forwarded to the medical education section within three days of receipt of the letter as an RTI response revealed. Yet, more than 15 days after my letter to the minister, it looks like it has not been forwarded to the concerned section,” said Dr Babu KV, RTI activist and ophthalmologist .
In the case of the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI), which was disbanded for being inefficient, corrupt and non-transparent, the health ministry had claimed that it could not do much because it had no direct control over the MCI. To rectify this, the NMC Act, 2019 not only gives the central government more control over the process of constituting the commission, section 56 of the Act states: “…the commission and the autonomous boards shall, in exercise of their powers and discharge of their functions under this Act, be bound by such directions on questions of policy as the Central Government may give in writing to them from time to time.” Though this makes it clear that the buck stops with the central government when it comes to the NMC, the government seems to be turning a deaf ear to the complaints against the NMC.
The NMC Act states: “Chairperson and every member of the Commission shall make declaration of his assets and his liabilities at the time of entering upon his office and at the time of demitting his office and also declare his professional and commercial engagement or involvement in such form and manner as may be prescribed, and such declaration shall be published on the website of the Commission.” Yet, to date, despite several reminders to the NMC chairperson, no such declaration has been published on the website. Mails to the NMC chairperson and an RTI application and appeals pertaining to non-disclosure of assets have received no response.
After an RTI activist received no response to his letter to the health minister, an RTI application filed by him to the ministry’s medical education section revealed that the letter had not reached the section. “The ministry seems to be selective about its efficiency. Last year, when a citizen wrote to the minister regarding integration of Ayurveda into MBBS curriculum, the letter was forwarded to the medical education section within three days of receipt of the letter as an RTI response revealed. Yet, more than 15 days after my letter to the minister, it looks like it has not been forwarded to the concerned section,” said Dr Babu KV, RTI activist and ophthalmologist .
In the case of the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI), which was disbanded for being inefficient, corrupt and non-transparent, the health ministry had claimed that it could not do much because it had no direct control over the MCI. To rectify this, the NMC Act, 2019 not only gives the central government more control over the process of constituting the commission, section 56 of the Act states: “…the commission and the autonomous boards shall, in exercise of their powers and discharge of their functions under this Act, be bound by such directions on questions of policy as the Central Government may give in writing to them from time to time.” Though this makes it clear that the buck stops with the central government when it comes to the NMC, the government seems to be turning a deaf ear to the complaints against the NMC.
Timeline of events
September 2020: NMC constituted
September 2022: tenure of many NMC members ends
April 5, 2023: RTI application seeking disclosure of assets of all members on NMC website as stipulated by NMC Act- no response
April 8, 2023: Mail to NMC chairman seeking disclosure of assets of all members – no response
May 7, 2023: Appeal filed regarding lack of response on RTI application – no response to appeal
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