The Medical Council of India (MCI) has denied having played any supportive role in the recently organized national conference of the state medical councils that called for more autonomy for the state councils. The MCI is of the opinion that the state councils should approach respective state governments for their requirements and MCI cannot be of any help to them in meeting their demands.

Speaking to Pharmabiz.com, Dr Meena Sachdeva, secretary general, MCI said that apart from having attended one of the sessions, which was part of the state councils' meeting, MCI had nothing to do with the conference.Commenting on the state councils' demand for exclusive rights for registration and on the complaints against MCI for allowing direct registrations, Dr Sachdeva said that MCI has been functioning as per the central government directives and the existing rules in place. "We are yet to be appraised of any problems by the state councils. If they have any problems with MCI, let them raise the issues at proper forums. As of now no such pleas are pending," she said.

She also clarified that the meeting was held at the personal level and MCI was not involved in it at any point of time. "We haven't received any recommendations or resolutions as yet," she said.

Pharmabiz had earlier reported about the national level meeting of the State Medical Councils that was held in Delhi during the second week of January 2003. The meeting, attended by representatives from 12 state councils across the country had announced their plans to lobby for a major revamp of Medical Council of India Act to ensure more autonomy for the councils at the state level.

They had also passed 16 resolutions pertaining to registration of doctors, renewal of registration, anti-quackery movements, grievance redressal etc. It is for the first time the state level medical councils are joining together for a common objective.
The meeting, which discussed as aspects pertaining to medical profession had also decided to meet in Karnataka next year to evaluate the progress made by their joint efforts. The Rajasthan State Medical Council is known to have shown interest in hosting the event in 2005.