Medical Council of India permits consortiums to open Medical Colleges

The Medical Council of India Board of Governors has made way for not just private companies but also a consortium of such organizations to set up and operate Medical Colleges. This means that soon the private sector will be able to play a major role in the field of medical education.

The Medical Council of India Board of Governors in the session of the Medical Council of India have decided to make the necessary amendments in the establishment of the Medical College Regulations, 1999. This is being done in order to invite greater participation from the private sector to come forward in order to establish medical colleges and impart high-quality medical education and training facilities to the aspiring medical students without compromising the standards of medical education.

The board of governors recently in a session of the medical council of India made the following regulations to further amend the ‘establishment of medical college regulations, 1999’ which has been recently notified through the official gazette of the MCI.

The conditions under which a consortium can make an application to establish a new Medical College are given below.

The number of members in the consortium must not be less than two and more than four eligible organizations. The members of the consortium must enter into an MoU which will specify the terms and conditions and the responsibilities. The consortium leader will be the person of contact and the minimum equity which will be contributed by the consortium leader will not be less than 50 percent.

The land on which the proposed medical college has to be built should be owned by the members of the consortium and in case the land is on a lease should not be less than a period of three years.

The Medical Council of India has also given a few regulations regarding the conditions which will form an important part of the MoU in case the permissions to build the medical college is granted. The detailed conditions are given in the Official Gazette of the Medical Council of India.