The Indian Medical Association (IMA), an association of doctors, on Wednesday expressed its displeasure over the appointment of a new body of governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI), the country’s apex institute to regulate medical education, directly by the health ministry under an ordinance.

IMA president Dr Vinay Aggarwal said the ministry should follow a democratically elected body and not doctors handpicked by it to regulate medical education in India.

“Most of the doctors in the new body are from private hospitals with no past experience in medical education. Also, all these doctors come from two cities -- Delhi and Mumbai,” said Aggarwal.

He added that the 165-member MCI, before a body of governors was put in place, had a just representation from all states, medical universities and medical colleges.

“The ministry had over a year to restore the structure of the MCI but they did not do so,” he said.

The IMA has filed a case in the Delhi high court on the same and it has demanded a proper election procedure for the MCI.

The health ministry on May 13 appointed a new body of governors of the MCI after extending the ordinance for another year that was passed after Ketan Desai’s arrest in 2010.