The National Commission for Allied & Healthcare Professions Act (NCAHP), 2021, must be implemented by the Central and state governments within two months, according to a stern order issued by the Supreme Court of India on August 12, 2024. This instruction emphasizes the court’s dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the legislation’s implementation, which intends to simplify and control the training and employment of allied healthcare professionals like technicians, therapists, and assistants.
The NCAHP Act was created to create a regulatory framework for allied healthcare professions, guaranteeing professional practices, standardized education, and high-quality healthcare services. It went into effect on May 25, 2021. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court pointed out that there are still large gaps in the act’s execution even though it has been in place for more than three years. Only 14 of the states and Union Territories (UTs) have established state councils as of September 2023, and even these councils were not operating at full capacity.
Judges JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, as well as Chief Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud of India, expressed their extreme dissatisfaction with the inaction. By October 15, 2024, the court stressed how urgently the relevant legislative and regulatory frameworks must be established. In order to effectively enforce the legislation, it is imperative that professional and state allied healthcare councils be established.
The severe warning from the court suggests that inaction beyond this date may result in coercive actions against noncompliant parties. The court ordered the Union Ministry of Health to set up an online meeting with state health secretaries in the next two weeks in order to speed up the proceedings. The goal is to create a detailed implementation plan to guarantee that the NCAHP Act’s provisions are followed to the letter.
The Joint Forum of Medical Technologists of India (JFMTI) filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that brought attention to the ongoing problems with the act’s implementation, and thus resulted to the directive. The PIL, which was represented by advocates Joby P. Varghese and Upamanyu Sharma, contended that the lack of effective enactment of the act’s provisions had resulted in the growth of uncontrolled institutions that grant degrees and certificates devoid of standardized curricula. The development of a strong regulatory framework has been further delayed by the ongoing extensions of the implementation schedule.
The intervention of the Supreme Court highlights how important it is to have regulatory monitoring in the allied healthcare industry in order to raise the standard of healthcare and education provided to Indian citizens.
SOURCE :
HINDUSTAN TIMES
