The President has signed an ordinance to dissolve scam-tainted Medical Council of India – MCI. Official sources in the Rashtrapati Bhavan said the ordinance was signed today, which has also been notified by the Law Ministry.<br/><br/>Health Secretary Sujatha Rao had said earlier that the council will be replaced by a seven-member panel of eminent doctors.<br/><br/>The panel will be in charge till the next one year. She said the Government will bring in a new law for the formation of an overarching body to regulate medical education in the country. She said the draft law for the formation of such a body will be formulated within a month.<br/><br/>As reported earlier, president Ketan Desai of Medical Council of India was arrested on the 22nd of last month by CBI for allegedly accepting bribe of two crore rupees to give permission to a Punjab medical college to recruit a fresh batch of students without having requisite infrastructure.<br/><br/>The MCI was established in 1934 under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1933 with the main function of establishing uniform standards of higher qualifications in medicine and recognition of medical qualifications in India and abroad.<br/><br/>In 1956, the old Act was repealed and a new one was enacted. This was further modified in 1964, 1993 and 2001.<br/>