The health ministry has stepped up efforts to set up National Council for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH) with an aim to regulate and determine standards for health and medical education in the country and provide a framework for regulation of human resources in the sector.
The bill for the council, which will subsume medical, dental, rehabilitation, nursing and pharmacy councils of India, will be tabled in parliament in the winter session. The move follows a task force recommendation for innovation in health education to encourage cross connectivity between disciplines, since the existing jumbo-size councils comprising nominated and elected members have failed to perform to expectations and meet the growing need for health professionals.
India has about 20% less qualified health staff than the WHO norm of 2.5 workers (doctors, nurses, midwives) per 1,000 people. Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad believes NCHRH will not only help increase human resource but also prevent malpractices.
The move, however, is facing stiff resistance from the medical fraternity. “This is ridiculous. The government should decentralise the various councils, instead of taking control of them. Any overarching body will create more confusion and delay decisions,” Ashok Adhao, president of Indian Medical Association, said.
Although under the broad ambit of the govermental policy on medical and health education, NCHRH will be an autonomous body with quasi-judicial powers.
Its tasks will include prescribing standards for health and medical education and redefining the nature and content of educational programmes. It will have departments to deal with professionals in medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, rehabilitation and physiotherapy, in addition to departments of public health, hospital management and allied health sciences (paramedics, lab technicians, optometrists, radiologists, etc.). These departments will execute and monitor standards.
The council will also be a controlling and coordinating agency that ensures accountability in the system and facilitates interconnectivity between disciplines while creating robust career tracks.
Professionals with experience in medical or health education, or with regulation of university-level professional education and non-medical academic institutions imparting education in disciplines, such as law, management or public administration, will be chosen as members of the council.
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