NCHRH Draft Bill Gets Clearance From PMO's Office.

Oct. 1, 2011 - PRLog -- Indian Prime Minister's Office (PMO) reportedly has given the green signal for the draft bill on National Council for Human Resource in Health (NCHRH) which was drafted in 2009. The draft bill, which was finalised by the union health ministry, for the establishment of the NCHRH as an overarching regulatory body for health and allied sectors, will now be put up before the Union Cabinet and later be introduced in Parliament for its final nod.
The NCHRH is proposed to be established by the health ministry as to reform the current regulatory framework in medical education and enhance the supply of skilled personnel to the healthcare sector in the country. Once in place, the NCHRH will be the sole regulatory body for all the premier medical educational institutions and autonomous regulatory bodies like Medical Council of India (MCI), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), Nursing Council of India (NCI), Dental Council of India (DCI) and the proposed Central Councils for Paramedical and Allied Medical Sciences Education.
The news is sure to impact the Physio community adversely since majority had been demanding an independent Council for the profession and did not want to be clubbed with the term ‘rehabilitation’. The community is coming to terms that more than an independent Council, it is the need for ‘independent practice’ that is of utmost importance.
The draft bill addresses few other things the community had been vouching for such as maintaining proper educational standards and quality education by making sure that only those who are board certified or having postgraduate education can practice in academic institutions. Accreditation for educational institutions will be done by approved independent bodies and will no longer have to rely on approvals or recognition by associations.
It now will have to be seen how the profession is represented and defined as there is still no consensus on it the last time a Parliamentary standing committee gave report on it. If the Parliament goes by the report, the profession might get independent status but might not get the right to represent or address oneself as a ‘Doctor’.  It also needs to be seen whether the profession maybe upgraded in the payscale by the Labour ministry.
As per the draft bill, the administration of the Council will consist of a Secretariat headed by a Secretary-General who will be appointed by the Council for a fixed term of three years. Under this secretariat, seven departments, each for separate categories like Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry, Rehabilitation & Physiotherapy, Public Health & Hospital Management and Allied Health Sciences, will be established and headed by a director for regulatory purposes. It will prescribe standards with a view to have proper planning and co-coordinated development of medical and allied health education throughout the country and maintain national live electronic register of medical and allied health professionals.
In every state, there will be separate bodies constituted by the Council for each administrative department which will be known as Registration and Ethics Board with name of the state in front and the department's name in the end. These bodies will replace the existing State Councils. These boards have to maintain a live electronic register of professionals in the state of the respective Department to be known as 'State Register of (name of the Department) and which will be linked to the National Register of Human Resources in Health maintained by the Council.
One another good point is that each Board which will comprise of a president, a vice-president and not less than 10 members, will have three women candidates at the minimum out of the ten. There will be a nominee of the state government also.
http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?extend.110.2