President Pratibha Patil today gave her assent to an ordinance dissolving scam-tainted Medical Council of India (MCI) and replace it with a seven-member panel of eminent doctors.

The panel will be in charge till the next one year, Health Secretary Sujatha Rao said.

The President signed the ordinance dissolving the MCI General Council, official sources in the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. The ordinance has also been notified by the Union Law Ministry.

The Government has said it would bring in a new law for the formation of an overarching body to regulate medical education in the country.

Rao has yesterday said a draft law for the formation of such a body would be formulated within a month. She added that the draft law would be a legislative response to the credibility crisis which the MCI was in.

MCI president Ketan Desai was arrested on April 22 by CBI for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs two crore to give permission to a Punjab medical college to recruit a fresh batch of students without having requisite infrastructure.

The MCI was established in 1934 under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1933, now repealed, with the main function of establishing uniform standards of higher qualifications in medicine and recognition of medical qualifications in India and abroad.

In 1956, the old Act was repealed and a new one was enacted. This was further modified in 1964, 1993 and 2001.

The objectives of the Council include maintenance of uniform standards of medical education, both undergraduate and postgraduate and recommendation for recognition or de-recognition of medical qualifications of medical institutions of India or foreign countries.