"Thus 19 out of 33 members, which is more than half of the total strength, would be from states and only a minority of members will be appointed by the Central government thereby ensuring NMC is representative, inclusive and respecting the federal structure of Indian polity."
The NMC will have eminent medical personalities as members who will be appointed for only one term of four years and will not be eligible for any further extension. "They will have to declare their assets at the time of being appointed and again while demitting office," Vardhan said.
The members will also have to declare their professional and commercial engagement or involvement which will be published on the website of the Commission.
It has been further provided that chairperson/member on ceasing to hold office will not accept for a period of two years any employment in any capacity in a private medical institute whose matter has been dealt with them either directly or indirectly, he said.
Refuting allegations that the clause on fees regulation will make the medical education expensive, Vardhan clarified there was no provision to regulate fees in the Indian Medical Council Act 1956.
In view of the lack of a regulatory mechanism, the Supreme Court had to pass orders for setting up of fees committees in each state to be chaired by retired high court judges.
Deemed-to-be universities refused to submit before this committee and remained virtually unregulated, the health minister said.
"The Act provides for regulation of fees and all other charges in 50 percent seats in private colleges as well as deemed-to-be universities. Nearly 50 percent of the total MBBS seats in the country are in government colleges, which have nominal fees. Of the remaining seats, 50 pc would be regulated by NMC.
"This means that almost 75 percent of total seats in the country would be available at reasonable fees. It must be stressed again at this point that not only fees, but fees and all other charges are being regulated," Vardhan said.
Dispelling fears that Clause 32 of the Act will encourage quackery, he said a provision has been made to register community health providers (CHPs) who will be modern medicine professionals and not those dealing with any alternative system of medicine.
"Also, they will have limited powers for providing primary and preventive healthcare at the mid-level," he said.
He stated that eminent doctors in NMC will decide their qualifications through regulations which will be finalized after extensive public consultation and debate.
"A false impression is being created that the provision for CHPs has been made to legalise quacks. On the contrary, the punishment for quackery has been enhanced to up to one year imprisonment and upto Rs 5 lakhs fine from the existing Rs 1,000," he said.