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A high-impact policy note has been formally submitted to the Union Government by Sumanta Kumar Tiwari, the Joint Drug Controller of Jharkhand, calling for a complete and transformative overhaul of India’s health education regulatory system. The proposal demands the immediate merger of all these education bodies into a single, powerful entity, that is, the National Health Education Commission (NHEC).
This regulatory landscape is currently fragmented across several independent statutory bodies, including the National Medical Commission (NMC), the Dental Council of India (DCI), the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), the Indian Nursing Council (INC), and the National Commissions for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) and Homoeopathy (NCH).
Tiwari submitted the proposal because of the recent high-profile CBI probes and multi-crore scams within the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), which underscored the systemic failure and widespread corruption plaguing the existing regulatory structure. The JDC’s note argues that these deficiencies are not isolated incidents but represent a deep-rooted, systemic challenge that undermines the credibility of India’s health professions and its goal of becoming a global healthcare leader.
Talking to Pharmabiz from Ranchi, Tiwari said the core vision of the proposal is to benchmark India's health education against stringent international standards, such as those promoted by the WFME and IAMRA in the USA and Europe. By creating a unified NHEC, the government can achieve a transparent, merit-based, and accountable health workforce ecosystem, ensuring quality, equity, and access in line with universal health coverage targets.
He said the roadmap for achieving this transformation begins with the crucial step of disbanding the fragmented councils and consolidating their functions into the NHEC, taking successful operational cues from the replacement of the Medical Council of India (MCI) with the more transparent National Medical Commission (NMC). Furthermore, it mandates that all future appointments, including the NHEC Chairman, must be made through transparent processes based strictly on professional merit, utilizing external assessments to exclude political and internal lobbying.
To actively combat malpractice, the proposal demands the implementation of a robust, centralized digital infrastructure for approvals, inspections, and audits, incorporating biometrics and live streaming for real-time monitoring. This digital push must be coupled with strict legal provisions for investigating and punishing corruption, alongside mandatory whistle-blower protection and the full public disclosure of all institutional data and inspection reports.
The policy also emphasizes the need for extensive international collaboration to align with global accrediting agencies, thereby ensuring worldwide recognition for Indian health education qualifications. Simultaneously, it stresses the importance of continuous quality improvement, ongoing faculty upskilling, and establishing formal channels for meaningful participation by practitioners, students, and civil society in the NHEC’s policy making and oversight functions.
Finally, SK Tiwari's policy note urges the central government to abandon the practice of endorsing status-quo appointments or perpetuating fragmented councils. Instead, it calls for decisive action to adopt this unified approach, thereby transforming health education regulation into a globally respected, corruption-free institution committed to national excellence.
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