New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) In a crackdown against financial irregularities in the medical regulator, the Delhi government has dissolved the Delhi Medical Council, Delhi Health and Family Welfare Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh said on Friday.

The DMC is responsible for regulating the practice of medicine in the city.

Talking to mediapersons, the Minister said the registration of new doctors was affected due to several shortcomings in the functioning of the Council, and it has been dissolved under Section 29 of the Medical Council Act, 1997.

“In view of the lapses, it has been decided to dissolve the DMC. Till the constitution of a new council, the process of registration of doctors will be overseen by the Director of Health Services,” said Pankaj Singh.

The Delhi government noticed that the DMC allegedly tried to recommend registration of doctors who were facing complaints, he said.

He said fresh MBBS graduates were also complaining about harassment in registration.

The DMC is responsible for ensuring the ethical conduct of doctors and addressing patient safety concerns. It maintains a register of qualified medical practitioners in the city.

The DMC also has the mandate to prevent quacks from running clinics. It is expected to uphold standards and check fraudulent activities by medical practitioners.

Earlier, MBBS graduates and other doctors complained about difficulties in getting their names registered in the DMC due to the vacancy of the registrar’s position.

The staff shortage had forced DMC President Arun Gupta to assume the power to issue registration numbers to newly-qualified medical students.

The Council had passed a verbal resolution last month to vest the registrar’s powers in the President and authorise him to approve all pending requests from medical professionals.

The vacancy of registrar had also impacted efforts of medical students from other states to get approval ahead of starting medical practice in Delhi, said an official source.

A paralysed DMC was also proving to be a hurdle for Delhi doctors planning to migrate to other states to practice medicine, he said.

Even medical undergraduates were facing problems in getting provisional certificates, he said.

The previous registrar of DMC, Girish Tyagi, was dismissed from his post in February for unlawfully holding his position.

In February, the Delhi government issued a show-cause notice to the DMC over irregularities and directed it to address the shortcomings.

–IANS

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