New Delhi: Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma, a former faculty member of the PGI, Chandigarh, will head India’s medical education sector in what medical experts are hailing as a landmark development. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today picked Dr SC Sharma as chairperson of the National Medical Commission (NMC), the new medical education regulator of India. The NMC Act was passed by Parliament in 2019 for replacing the Medical Council of India.
In the interim, the government has through an ordinance appointed a set of eminent doctors as the board of governors of the MCI to regulate medical education and grant clearances for new colleges and increased intake at MBBS, PG and super-specialty levels. An order of the Department of Personnel on the selection of NMC chairperson said, “The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the following appointments in the NMC for a period of three years or till they attain the age of 70 years or until further orders whichever is the earliest: Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma, professor and head, ENT head-neck surgery, AIIMS, New Delhi, as chairman, and Dr Rakesh Kumar Vats, secretary general, board of governors, Medical Council of India, as secretary.”
Dr Sharma was picked from a panel of three finalists short-listed for the coveted post by a high-level selection committee set up last year under the chairpersonship of the Union Cabinet Secretary. Dr Sharma is seen by peers as a man of integrity and scholarship. The newly appointed NMC chief hails from Rajasthan’s Jaipur and has had a long teaching career at the PGI where he served as senior resident, assistant professor and associate professor for over 20 years.