Govt introduces two new health Bills in House

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CategoryPolity

Last Updated26/07/2023

Recently, the government introduced two health Bills in the Parliament namely National Dental Commission Bill, 2023 and National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, 2023.

The Bills seek to repeal Dentists Act, 1948 and Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947
They propose to form regulatory bodies for dentists and nurses and midwives on the lines of the National Medical Commission (NMC), that will look at different aspects of dental and nursing education with
- autonomous boards for undergraduate and postgraduate education
- assessment and rating board
- an ethics and registration board
They also have a provision for creating live national registers.
- The registers created under the new Bills will be dynamic, with the state and the national registers syncing automatically
- Qualifications of the professionals will be updated from time to time.
- Medical professionals currently need to register with their respective state councils.

It includes midwives in the very name of the Bill that the current Act (Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947) does not.
It aims to create scope of practice for nurses in different specialties.
It gives a legal backing to nurses to perform certain procedures or give medicines in specific instances.

Provision for an exit test for dentists on the lines of the National Exit Test (for those completing MBBS)
Persons can hold the key positions for a maximum of four years.
No one over the age of 70 years can hold these positions.
Criticism: This will lead to more say by the government in the regulation of education in the field.
- The key officials for the proposed regulatory body will be nominated by the government.
- The President of the dental council is currently elected by the general body.