Around 65,000 doctors are awaiting renewals of their registrations at the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) despite the fact that an online system was in put in place in 2012 for its effective functioning by the Council.

The administrative lapses have been attributed to this state of affairs and the Council had come to a standstill after the state government dissolved it citing faulty functioning. The government had appointed an administrator in a unilateral manner without a due process of election, according to officials associated with the development.

Compounding the problem further, the newly appointed administrator took up traditional ways of manual processing of registrations and renewals which was not only time consuming but was a tedious job for the doctors located in remote parts of the state. The online system offered renewals in 15 days time whereas the manual process takes at least 3 months time apart from making the exercise tedious for the doctors.

MMC is set to go for election on December 18, 2016 based on the state government notification ahead of submitting the schedule of elections to the Bombay High Court (HC). The quasi-judicial body should henceforth take up on a priority basis renewals of licenses afresh under the new elected body of members to effectively clear the backlog, says an official.

Nine members will be elected to the council which essentially comprises 18 members, out of which five will be appointed by the government. It will also have a member of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS).

MMC, the quasi judicial body representing over 85,000 doctors in the state, had also remained defunct from 1998 to 2010 following a Bombay High Court order that suspended it due to irregularities in the election of members and maintenance of register which led to the backlog of over 600 cases which are now with the council since it took over in 2012 after being defunct for 12 years.

Among other such cases is one related to crosspathy for which MMC and the Medical Council of India (MCI) had petitioned a couple of months ago to the Bombay HC in opposition to crosspathy practised in the state. In Maharashtra Ayurveda and Homoeopathy practitioners are allowed to prescribe allopathy medicines which is not in accordance with the MMC Act.

With the recently dissolved MMC looking at a revival with  elections in December this year, the notification on elections has come as a welcome surprise for MMC in view of the fact that its administration was not running effectively as the present Council's five year tenure got over on May 21, 2016.

The council had come to a standstill after a committee appointed by the state government found fault in its functioning. The council had also raised objection on the appointment of an administrator Dr Abhay Chowdhary in a unilateral manner by the state government.