Separate body for health education; not to be governed by NCHER.
The Centre today said medical education would remain separate from general education and would not come under the aegis of the National Council for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), an overarching body that will be set up by the education ministry.
“Health is too technical an issue and the education ministry is working on its separate overarching body and we are working on ours. In fact, the progress of our overarching authority is far ahead than that of theirs. So, there are two separate overarching bodies for health and general education being set up by their respective ministries,” Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said here today after meeting a newly-formed panel which replaced the defunct Medical Council of India (MCI).
Prior to his meeting with the six-member panel, Higher Education Secretary Vibha Puri Das met Health Secretary Sujatha Rao on the issue of health education being a part of NCHER.
“There is no question of health education being transferred to the human resource development ministry. Medical science cannot be divorced from the actual health policy. We will set up a National Council for Human Resource in Health (NCHRH), which will look into health education and set standards and regulation for health sciences and research,” Rao told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Das.
Das, on the other hand, told Business Standard: “They had clarifications on NCHER and how it will talk to other bodies. We had a good meeting. These are in-house discussions and inter-ministerial consultations that take time. The health ministry’s concern was on how medical education can be a part of NCHER.”
A taskforce set up by the education ministry has prepared the draft NCHER Bill.
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Das added that the functioning of ministries and departments would continue in accordance with the Transaction of Business Rules and each ministry would do its job. “We are working towards an agreed solution,” she added.
New panel replacing MCI becomes autonomous
The six-member panel, which has replaced the defunct Medical Council of India (MCI), is an autonomous body and will solely be responsible for granting recognition to medical colleges. Hence, the Union health ministry will have no say in these matters as all ministerial powers have been given to the panel. No recommendations from the ministry will be sent to them nor will these be entertained by them, according to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.