The Union health ministry's ambitious plan to establish an overarching regulatory authority in the medical education sector will be a reality soon as the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is learnt to have given the green signal for the draft bill on National Council for Human Resource in Health (NCHRH).

The draft bill, which was finalised by the union health ministry, for the establishment of the NCHRH as an overarching regulatory body for health and allied sectors, has received the approval from the PMO. Now that it has received the PMO approval, it will be put up before the Union Cabinet and will finally be introduced in Parliament for its final nod, sources said.

The NCHRH is proposed to be established by the health ministry as an overarching regulatory authority in the country to reform the current regulatory framework in medical education and enhance the supply of skilled personnel to the healthcare sector in the country. Once in place, the NCHRH will be the overarching regulatory body for all the premier medical educational institutions and autonomous regulatory bodies like Medical Council of India (MCI), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), Nursing Council of India (NCI), Dental Council of India (DCI) and the proposed Central Councils for Paramedical and Allied Medical Sciences Education.

It will prescribe standards with a view to have proper planning and co-coordinated development of medical and allied health education throughout the country and maintain national live electronic register of medical and allied health professionals.

As per the draft bill, the administration of the Council will consist of a Secretariat headed by a Secretary-General who will be appointed by the Council for a fixed term of three years. 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.

In every state, there will be separate bodies constituted by the Council for each administrative department which will be known as Registration and Ethics Board with name of the state in front and the department's name in the end. These bodies will replace the existing State Councils. These boards have to maintain a live electronic register of professionals in the state of the respective Department to be known as 'State Register of (name of the Department) and which will be linked to the National Register of Human Resources in Health maintained by the Council.

Each Board will comprise of a president, a vice-president and not less than 10 members out of which three will be women candidates. There will be a nominee of the state government also.