Stating that the proposed National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill will take away the rights of the state governments, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh Thursday asked the regional parties that are part of the NDA government to protect their interest.
The Congress leader, while speaking on the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill 2019 in Rajya Sabha, also alleged that the NMC bill has been delayed as the Medical Council of India (MCI) has an "influence" on all political parties and "hijacked" the decision making of the government.
He demanded the government to bring the NMC bill in the Upper House at the earliest and ensure "MCI-mukth' medical education in the country.
The NMC bill, which would seek to repeal the Indian Medical Council Act 1956, aims to regulate medical education and practice as also determine fees for up to 40 per cent seats in private medical institutions and deemed universities. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2017.
"All regional parties, which are in the NDA board, look after your interest. Abandon the NDA board. Interest of Telangana, Andhra, Odisha and Bihar will be seriously jeopadised if the NMC bill is passed," Ramesh said.
The NMC bill is going to "destroy" the rights and responsibilities of the state governments and centralise the medical education, he said and urged, "On this issue, I hope you will study and take a position."
Alleging that MCI has influence in all political parties except for TMC, the Congress leader said: "This is a sad story of how one organisation can hijack the decision making in the government and how one organisation can influence the political parties."
He further said that since mid-1990s, two organsiation in India are "mired in controversy" -- BCCI and MCI, for which Supreme Court had to intervene.
"Many people wanted to reform MCI but its reform was nowhere in sight because nobody had the courage to take this giant MCI. And this elephant had footprints in all political parties - national and regional," he said.
"I hope now that three years are passed, bring NMC bill if not now, at least in the next session, so that we create MCI-mukt medical education," he added.
Ramesh supported the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, but said he was doing it out of "compulsion".
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