Noted cardiologist K.K. Talwar appointed as new MCI board chief

New Delhi, May 14 (ANI): Noted cardiologist Dr. K.K. Talwar has been appointed as the Chairman of the new Board of Governors for the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Talwar, a former director of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh will replace Dr S K Sarin as the head of the board.

The term of the present members of the Board of Governors, headed by Dr. Sarin, ends today.

The Board of Governors, which was reconstituted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on Friday also nominated four doctors as members of the board.

They are Prof K S Sharma, Prof Harbhajan Singh Rassam, Dr Rajiv Chintaman Yeravdekar and Dr Purushotham Lal.

A ministry official said that the governing body is supposed to be a five member body and the names of other members are still being finalized.

According to the notification, a single entrance examination was to be introduced that would be conducted for MBBS and MD courses offered by all 271 medical colleges in the country, of which 138 are operated by the government and 133 are under private management.

The government had recently brought out a gazette notification extending the tenure of MCI Board from one year since supersession of MCI to two years.

The government had decided to bring in an ordinance to replace the MCI with the board after a crisis hit the regulatory body when its president Ketan Desai was arrested on April 22 last year by the CBI for allegedly taking a bribe to recognise a medical college in Punjab.

The MCI, a statutory body, tasked to oversee the standards of medical education in India, grants recognition to medical degrees, gives accreditation to medical colleges and monitors medical practice in the country. (ANI)