New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry is under pressure to explain the delay in filling 19 vacant posts in the four autonomous boards of the National Medical Commission (NMC).
These vacant positions include:
- Presidents of the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB), Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB), and the Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB).
- Whole-time and part-time members of the UG and PG Medical Education Boards, MARB, and EMRB.
Recruitment Efforts & Delays
Responding to queries in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Health Smt Anupriya Patel stated that:
- The government advertised the vacancies in national newspapers on August 31, 2024, and October 11, 2024.
- Despite this, the recruitment process remains incomplete, and key posts have been vacant for months or even years.
Timeline of Vacancies
- Some positions, including whole-time and part-time members of UGMEB, PGMEB, and EMRB, have been vacant since September 2020.
- From September 2022, additional part-time and whole-time positions in MARB and EMRB became vacant.
- In 2024, crucial leadership roles, including Presidents of UGMEB and MARB, also fell vacant.
- In January 2025, part-time positions across all four boards remained unfilled.
Concerns Over Delay
Health activist Dr. KV Babu raised concerns over the recruitment delays, questioning why the Health Ministry waited until the last moment to invite applications. He suggested that the delay might allow the government to run the NMC through temporary, nominated functionaries rather than appointed professionals.
Dr. Babu posted on X (formerly Twitter):
“The @MoHFW_INDIA invited applications for those posts in the @NMC_BHARAT which were falling vacant by 25/09/24 just three weeks earlier on 31/08/24! What was the purpose of delaying the process to the 11th hour? To keep it vacant & run it by GOI-nominated functionaries?”
Government’s Response
The Health Ministry insists that the appointment process is ongoing, but many in the medical community remain skeptical about the delays and their impact on the functioning of India’s top medical regulatory body.
The prolonged vacancies raise concerns about decision-making, medical education policies, and oversight of healthcare institutions, especially when the NMC is expected to regulate and implement major reforms in India’s medical education system.
