Government will soon be bringing in a law for the formation of an overarching body to regulate medical education in the country and till then a seven-member panel of doctors will replace the scam-tainted Medical Council of India, which has been dissolved.

Health secretary Sujatha Rao said, a draft law for the formation of such a body would be formulated within a month.

"We have suggested an overarching body which will be responsible for maintaining standards and regulation of medical colleges," she told reporters adding that the draft law would be a legislative response to the credibility crisis which the MCI was in.

The Union Cabinet is understood to have yesterday decided in principle to dissolve the Medical Council of India whose chief Ketan Desai has been arrested by the CBI on graft charges.

Rao said that an ordinance in this regard was awaiting President's assent. An ordinance is required since the MCI was created by an act of Parliament.

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. He has already submitted his resignation to MCI Vice-President P C Kesavankutty Nair.

In Mumbai, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad when asked about the ordinance indicated that this was required as there was no law by virtue of which action could have been taken against the MCI.

Azad said the MCI was created by an act of Parliament.

"That had given them absolute power. In that Act there was no provision of suspension or even a show-cause notice".

"So...we have to take some action," he said.

Sources said the MCI would be replaced by a seven-member body of eminent doctors which will look after the functions of the council. Among the names doing the rounds for heading the panel are former AIIMS Director P Venugopal.

The main functions of the MCI, set up under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1933, are to ensure uniform standards in medical education and grant of recognition to medical degrees awarded in India and abroad.

The Government had earlier proposed an amendment to the MCI Act in 2005 to ensure some amount of Government control over the body. But the proposal had been negated by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.