A majority, 61 per cent of the people, support the government move to replace the Medical Council of India (MCI) with a state-appointed regulatory body, according to a pan-India survey on the proposed amendments to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill.

The bill also proposes renewal of licences of doctors every three years. The survey conducted by a citizen engagement platform LocalCircles found that an overwhelming 83 per cent citizens agreed with the clause on the three-year licence renewal, while 12 per cent disagreed and another five per cent did not comment. The amendments were proposed in the wake of a parliamentary committee's revelation that the country's sole medical regulatory body, MCI, is a "club" of influential medical practitioners who act without any fear of governance and regulations.

The NMC bill allows medical colleges to raise the number of seats without any upper limit or any condition of infrastructure enhancement. About 82 per cent of the respondents opposed this and only 16 per cent supported this condition in the bill. The poll had a sample size of around 42,000 people. The NMC bill does not refer to capitation fees, donations, development expenses, etc., charged by private medical colleges. Around 86 per cent of the respondents said they wanted such fees to be banned. Only 9 per cent said it was not a problem. The NMC bill also frees up the medical colleges and allows them to charge any quantum of fees for 60 per cent of the seats.

Half the citizens who polled said that fees can be raised for 60 per cent seats but there should be an upper cap and 38 per cent said percentage of seats to be sold privately should be lowered. Only 10 per cent felt it was the right move as it would lead to more investments in medical colleges.