Even as the Union Health Ministry has finalized a draft bill to set up the National Council for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH), the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health has suggested bringing the entire gamut of medical education under the Department of Health Research to combine both the sectors for better results.

“The committee feels that it would be more appropriate if all the premier medical educational institutions and autonomous bodies like Medical Council of India, Pharmacy Council of India, Nursing Council of India and the proposed Central Councils for Paramedical and Allied Medical Sciences Education are brought under the jurisdiction of the newly created Department of Health Research,” according to the latest report by the panel headed by Amar Singh.

“This arrangement will not only be effective for the purpose of coordinated efforts between medical education and health research but also for the purpose of equitable distribution of workload among all the Departments of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The committee, therefore, reiterates its earlier recommendation that both medical education and the health research need to be brought under the jurisdiction of one Department for the purpose of effective and coordinated efforts in this area,” the report said.

The committee had earlier also made the same recommendation saying that both should be brought together on the lines of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education for better coordination and also for avoiding duplication of work amongst various institutions/ agencies engaged in medical education and research. According to the reply from the health ministry to the panel, medical education was being regulated under IMC Act-1950 through a statutory autonomous body MCI. “The policy issues, which remain with the ministry of health, relate to manpower planning for health sectors and coordination of measures to enable MCI to work in coordination with Ministry of HRD etc. In this context, a merger of medical education and research is not considered feasible. Moreover, the Department of Health Research was created as a separate Department in order to ensure a thrust to Medical Research in the country. However, since the two departments are in the same Ministry, there would be no difficulty in coordination,” the health ministry contented.

The recommendation, for the second time, comes even as the health ministry has published a draft bill to set up the NCHRH as the overarching regulatory body for health and allied sectors. As per the bill, the new body will replace the existing regulatory bodies like Medical Council of India, Pharmacy Council, Nursing Council and Dental Council of India. This is being initiated as per the recommendations of a Task Force recently.

Under this secretariat, seven departments, each for separate categories like Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry, Rehabilitation & Physiotherapy, Public Health & Hospital Management and Allied Health Sciences, will be established and headed by a director for regulatory purposes. Though the body is going to be under the control of the Health Ministry, it has not specified whether the Department of the Health Research and its main arm Indian Council for Medical Research will have the jurisdiction over the NCHRH as being suggested by the Parliamentary panel.