Manmohan's favourite is chairman of Board of Governors of MCI

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Pawan Kumar Bansal

14 May, 2011

Health and Family welfare ministry yesterday issued an ordinance for his appointment along with four members namely Prof. K.S. Sharma, Prof Harbhajan Singh, Dr. Rajiv Chinataman Yeravdeker and Dr. Purushotham Lal.

DR K K Talwar, the former director of Post graduate Institute of Research, Chandigarh, has won the race for the post of Chairman of Board of Governors of Medical Council of India (MCI), courtsey his proximity to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Highly placed sources told this scribe that half a dozen candidates including Dr. S.S. Sangwan, Vice-Chancellor of Pt. Bhagawat Dayal Sharma University of Health sciences, Rohtak were in race for the post. In fact, sources said that even the Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had personally spoken to Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Gulam Nabi Azad on behalf of Dr.S.S.S angwan.
Although Hooda has good relations with Gulam Nabi Azad but it was Dr. Manmohan Singh who made this decision and chose Talwar.

A ministry press release said chairman and members of Board of Governors of Medical Council of India have been nominated subsequent to the promugulation of the ordinance extending the supersession of the Medical Council of India for another one year. The term of present members expires on 14th May, 2011, said the release.

It may be recalled that the Government had superseded the Medical Council of India governing body headed by then chairman Ketan Desai when he was caught by C.B.I. red-handed while accepting money from the management of a private medical college of Punjab for granting certain permisisons.

Initially Gulam Nabi Azad, had said that Medical council of India, being an autonomous body, the government can not interfere in its functioning nothwithstanding the complaints of corruption and mismanagement.

But following media outcry Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had intervened and M.C.I. headed by Ketan Desai was superseded and Board of Governors with Dr.S.K.Sarin as its chariman was constituted for a year.

There is also a demand that government should ensure election of memebrs of Medical Council of India so that it broadly represents the states and medical professionals from across the country.

The Medical Council of India is also involved in a controversy with Indian Medical Assocaition when it suspended the licnece of its office bearers for sponsoring some products. Some decisions by the Board of Governors also came into controversy for reducing the faculty of forensic science in M.B.B.S course and for proposing short term rural area M.B.B.S course. Indian Medical Association had opposed this move saying that this programme will will produce untrained and unexperienced doctors, adding that Board is working as puppet of union health minister.