Thane Doctor Rahul Kulkarni Nominated to Maharashtra Medical Council

The Maharashtra government has appointed five nominated members to the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), including Dr Rahul Kulkarni from Thane, according to a notification issued by the state medical education department on August 14.

The appointments come nearly four months after elections to the statutory medical regulatory body were held in April, following an intervention by the Supreme Court. Alongside Dr Kulkarni, the other nominated members include Dr Ajay Govind Keni from Kolhapur, Dr Prashant Narayan Choudhari and Dr Rajiv Yerwadekar from Pune, and Dr Chandrashekhar Gillurkar from Nagpur.

The MMC comprises a total of 18 members, consisting of nine elected members and nine government-appointed members. Nine registered medical practitioners were previously elected to the council during the April elections. However, the council has not yet become fully functional because four ex-officio positions remain vacant and await appointments by the state government.

An elected MMC member stated that the council will hold internal elections to select its office-bearers, including the president and secretary, only after all vacant positions are filled by the government.

The MMC elections had previously faced controversy when the state government attempted to scrap the electoral process and fill posts exclusively through nominations. To execute that plan, the government had approved amendments to the Maharashtra Medical Council Act, 1965, via an ordinance. The state was subsequently forced to retract the decision after the Supreme Court ordered the completion of the electoral process, leading to the April polls being conducted after an 11-year gap.

Established under the Maharashtra Medical Council Act, 1965, the MMC is responsible for regulating medical professionals across Maharashtra. Its duties include registering MBBS doctors and specialists, processing registration renewals, recording additional medical qualifications, enforcing professional codes of ethics, resolving grievances, and overseeing standards for medical education and Continuing Professional Development. Prior to the recent elections, the council had been functioning under a state-appointed administrator since 2022.