Draft Guidelines For Medical Registration

• 08 Apr 2022

For Prelims: Draft Guidelines For Medical Registration, Draft National Policy for the Medical Devices, 2022, National Medical Commission (NMC, National Exit Test (NExT)

For Mains: Government Policies & Interventions, Education, Health, Management of Social Sector/Services, Draft Guidelines For Medical Registration, Draft National Policy for the Medical Devices, 2022

Why in News?

Recently, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has released draft guidelines on how the doctors will be registered in order to practise medicine.

• It aims to bring uniformity in the registration process of medical practitioners in India.
• Earlier, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has released an Approach Paper for the Draft National Policy for the Medical Devices, 2022.

What are the draft guidelines for medical registration proposed by the NMC?

• Unique ID: The guidelines provide a framework for creating a dynamic national medical register, with a unique ID assigned to each student who qualifies NEET and other professional qualifications.
• Allowing Foreign Doctors: It also throws open the registration to foreign doctors who want to come to India to study in post-graduation courses, fellowships, clinical research, or voluntary clinical services.
• National Exit Test (NExT): The draft states that Indian medical graduates would be eligible for registration in the National Medical Register after they complete their MBBS degree from a recognised college, complete their year-long mandatory internship, and pass the National Exit Test (NExT).
  • NExT will not only level the playing field for both, it will also act as the qualifying test for post-graduate programmes instead of the NEET-PG the aspirants have to appear for currently.
  • Till the NExt is introduced, the current processes will continue, the draft guidelines state.
  • The government expects to conduct the NExT from 2024.
  • National Medical Register contains the list of Registered Doctors with the various State Medical Councils across India.

What is the National Medical Commission?

• Medical Council of India (MCI) was established in 1934 under the Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act, 1933 with the main function of establishing uniform standards of higher qualifications in medicine and recognition of medical qualifications in India and abroad.
• The government dissolved the MCI in 2018 and replaced it with a Board of Governors (BoG), which was chaired by a member of NITI Aayog.
• Now, the IMC Act, 1956 stands repealed after the gazette notification, and has been replaced by the National Medical Commission Act that came into existence on 8th August 2019.
• The change is aimed at bringing in reforms in the medical education sector and especially aimed at replacing the MCI, which was tainted by corruption and other problems.
• The NMC will function as the country’s top regulator of medical education.
• It will have four separate autonomous boards for:
  • Undergraduate medical education.
  • Postgraduate medical education.
  • Medical assessment and rating.
  • Ethics and medical registration.

Source: IE