The turf war between the Union health ministry and the human resource development (HRD) ministry over the proposed over-arching regulators seems to have ended with both the ministries now gearing up to go to the Cabinet with their respective bills soon.
Sources in the health ministry disclosed that the issues have been resolved after a series of deliberations with the HRD and law ministry, and they are ready to go to the Cabinet next week. The law ministry has vetted both the draft bills.
Earlier September, the Union health ministry had objected the proposed HRD bill, the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), saying that the “spirit behind the agreement had not been reflected” in it.
“The issues have now been sorted out. We were earlier miffed as some clauses of the HRD’s bill tend to‘over-ride’ provisions our NCHRH. The draft seems to be alright now and both of us have decided to go to the cabinet now,” sources added.
The fight between both the HRD and health ministry started after the former announced taking over medical education in their proposed bill. The Union health ministry strongly objected to it and approached the Cabinet for the clearance of their proposed National Commission for Human Resources for Health (NCHRH) Bill, 2011, after the HRD did not send its comments even after waiting for long. The health ministry after getting their final draft from the law ministry decided to go to the Cabinet for approval.
The draft NCHRH, however, never saw the light of the day. With the issues resolved between both the ministries, sources say that they are hopeful of getting clearance from the Cabinet soon.
The NCHRH aims to merge existing regulatory bodies such as the Medical Council of India, Dental Council of India, Pharmacy Council of India, Nursing Council of India and councils under the department of AYUSH into a single body.
The health ministry proposed to set up NCHRH as an “overarching regulatory body” for the health sector to reform the current regulatory framework and enhance the supply of skilled personnel.