There will be new regulatory agency in India to regulate health education by enforcement of a new bill being tabled in the Parliament of India in the monsoon session of August 2010 for the formation of an agency called the "National Council for Human Resource in Health in India –NCHRH”. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has approved the revised draft for the proposed NCHRH Bill which will be an overarching body for the health sector.
Becoming a doctor in India will be more difficult once the said regulatory authority starts functioning, which is expected to be at any time from August 2010 onwards. The agency will also bring about overall transparency, eliminating the present, allegedly corrupt admission formalities in the field of medical education. From the next academic year, i.e. 2011, onwards there will be a common MBBS entrance test (single PMT)National Eligibility and Entrance Test -UG replacing the over 17 All India Pre Medical Test(PMTs) conducted all over the country for over 35,000 undergraduate seats. But Tamil Nadu has moved the Supreme Court challenging this decision of single common test for all India. The second major change will be the National Exit Examination National Eligibility and Entrance Test PG for students graduating from Indian medical colleges.
The new draft proposes a National Committee for Accreditation and a National Medical Education and Training Board that will register and accredit medical colleges and prepare curricula for all streams of education in the health sector. The powers of the existing councils, including the Medical Council of India, will be substantially reduced and they will deal only with licensing, continuing education and ethics. These bodies, though under the general supervision of the NCHRH, will be entirely independent in their structure and functioning, and will consist of senior professional, selected or nominated through a rigorous process. The NCHRH will be a 15-member body. The original NCHRH Bill was re-drafted after several States raised objections on the ground that the body was highly centralized and would usurp the powers of the States. The re-constituted task force on NCHRH held several rounds of consultations in New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai before coming up with the revised version.
Details of the NCHRH council bill:(0ld 0ne) There shall be established seven administrative departments under the Council for regulation of each category of health professionals:
a) Department of Medicine; b) Department of Nursing; c) Department of Dentistry; d) Department of Pharmacy; e) Department of Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy; f) Department of Public Health and Hospital Management; and g) Department of Allied Health SciencesThe draft bill, which was finalised by the union health ministry, for the establishment of the NCHRH as an overarching regulatory body for health and allied sectors, has received the approval from the PMO. Now that it has received the PMO approval, it will be put up before the Union Cabinet and will finally be introduced in Parliament for its final nod, sources said.
The NCHRH is proposed to be established by the health ministry as an overarching regulatory authority in the country to reform the current regulatory framework in medical education and enhance the supply of skilled personnel to the healthcare sector in the country. Once in place, the NCHRH will be the overarching regulatory body for all the premier medical educational institutions and autonomous regulatory bodies like Medical Council of India (MCI), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), Nursing Council of India (NCI), Dental Council of India (DCI) and the proposed Central Councils for Paramedical and Allied Medical Sciences Education.
It will prescribe standards with a view to have proper planning and co-coordinated development of medical and allied health education throughout the country and maintain national live electronic register of medical and allied health professionals.
The expert group of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the task force of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) broadly agreed to settle their turf war over the jurisdiction of medical education. The National Commission for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH) will get tolay down the minimum standards of medical education, while all health-related research will comeunder the purview of the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), promoted by the HRD Ministry. The NCHRH and the NCHER draft Bills — proposed as regulatory bodies — have been pending for the past several months as the two ministries were involved in a tussle over the jurisdiction of medical education
As per the draft bill, the administration of the Council will consist of a Secretariat headed by a Secretary-General who will be appointed by the Council for a fixed term of three years. Under this secretariat, seven departments, each for separate categories like Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry, Rehabilitation & Physiotherapy, Public Health & Hospital Management and Allied Health Sciences, will be established and headed by a director for regulatory purposes.
In every state, there will be separate bodies constituted by the Council for each administrative department which will be known as Registration and Ethics Board with name of the state in front and the department's name in the end. These bodies will replace the existing State Councils. These boards have to maintain a live electronic register of professionals in the state of the respective Department to be known as 'State Register of (name of the Department) and which will be linked to the National Register of Human Resources in Health maintained by the Council.
Each Board will comprise a president, a vice-president and not less than 10 members out of which three will be women candidates. There will be a nominee of the state government also.
In the new proposed bill Department of Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy; & Department of Public Health and Hospital Management has been removed and a common para medical council has been suggested by committee.
which is totally unacceptable by 'Indian Association of Physiotherapist".They are in demand for their separate council from almost 40 years.But still, government has not formed a separate council for them.Still government job comes on diploma degree in Physiotherapy, but in this field education has reached up to PhD level.
According to WHO, it has been declared as separate profession apart from medical or paramedical.
Due to lack of effective council, this profession is unable to control above 65000 professional and quality of education & patient care in on risk.Further social and educational importance are going down.