Tainted with charges of corruption, the 76-year-old Medical Council of India was on Saturday dissolved and replaced by a six-member panel of eminent doctors to carry out its duties.

An ordinance dissolving the all-powerful body, formed to regulate medical education in the country, was signed by President Pratibha Patil and notified by the law ministry.

The Union Cabinet had discussed the ordinance on Thursday following which it had gone to the law ministry for consultations.

The six-member panel is headed by eminent gastroenterologist from Delhi Dr S K Sarin. The other five members are: former director of National Institute of Immunology Prof Ranjit Roy Chowdhary, Dr Sita Naik from SGPGIMS, Dr Gautam Sen, cardiac surgeon, Dr Devi Shetty and former head of Safdarjung hospital Dr R L Salhan.

Union health secretary K Sujatha Rao told TOI, "This committee will not have an advisory role but will actively run the MCI including issuing licences and permissions, conducting inspections and regulating medical education, for a maximum of one year. It will also suggest ways to reform MCI which will help in preparing the bill which we plan to introduce in the monsoon session of Parliament."

MCI till now was the sole body that granted recognition to medical degrees, gave accreditation to medical colleges, registered medical practitioners and monitored medical practice in the country.

However, allegations of corruption against the MCI have been rife for years now. On April 22, MCI's president Dr Ketan Desai was arrested by the CBI for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2 crore to recognize a medical college in Punjab though it did not meet MCI standards. The ministry said it plans to bring in a new law for the formation of an overarching body to regulate medical education in the country.

According to Rao, the draft law for the formation of such a body would be formulated within a month. Sources say MCI would be made a body to regulate medical professionals, which would be in line with the original mandate of the MCI.

An earlier effort by the ministry to amend the Indian Medical Council Act of 1956, giving more powers to the ministry, was turned down by the parliamentary standing committee on health, which argued that the move would destroy the council's autonomy. Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the ordinance "was required as there is no law that empowers us to take action against MCI as it was created by an act of Parliament."