Three autonomous bodies that regulate personnel in the medical field — doctors, dentists and nurses — are all in a dysfunctional state, the response to a right to information query has revealed.
The health ministry’s response to the query confirmed that the four autonomous boards of the National Medical Commission that deal with undergraduate education, postgraduate education, ethics and registration, and assessment and rating of medical colleges are totally vacant barring the post of president of the PG medical education board. These have been lying vacant for more than four months, though the ministry was supposed to initiate the process of filling up the vacancies six months before the end of the tenure of the earlier members so that posts would not fall vacant.

The Dental Commission of India was to be replaced by a newly constituted National Dental Commission, after the National Dental Commission Act was passed in August 2023. One and a half years later, the council is headless and though it is supposed to be an autonomous body, it is now being headed by the director general of health services of the health ministry. The DGHS is an ex-officio member of the DCI and a member of its executive committee till the new commission is constituted. The ministry’s order regarding the DGHS as acting president stated that “the constitution of the National Dental Commission is in an advanced state and will be completed shortly”.
Similarly, the Indian Nursing Council was to be replaced by the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission, for which too the law was passed in August 2023. The new law was supposed to enhance professional conduct and ensure greater transparency and accountability with an online and live register of all nurses in India. However, the Indian Nursing Council continues to function with Dileep Kumar, who has held the post for over two decades, as the president.
The National Digital Health Mission envisages several digital registries, including one for health facilities and another for health professionals, including doctors, dentists, nurses etc. However, the autonomous bodies supposed to update and maintain these registries, which are also meant to regulate these professions, are in shambles.
“Autonomy of these bodies has become a joke. They are functioning like subordinate departments of the union health ministry and are plagued with ad hocism and total lack of transparency,” said a former member of the DCI who did not wish to be named.