Context: Recently, Rajya Sabha has passed the National Commission for Homoeopathy Medicine Bill 2019.

About National Commission for Homoeopathy Medicine Bill 2019

• It seeks to repeal the Homoeopathy Central Council Act, 1973.
• It proposed to setup a National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) which will replace the existing regulator Central Council for Homoeopathy (CCH) so as to ensure transparency.

Under NCH, three autonomous boards will be setup:

• Homoeopathy Education Board will be entrusted with conducting overall education of Homoeopathy.
• The Board of assessment and rating will assess and grant permission to educational institutions of Homoeopathy.
• Board of ethics and registration of practitioners of Homoeopathy will maintain National Register and ethical issues relating to practice are under the NCH.

Under the Bill, the central government will constitute an Advisory Council for Homoeopathy. The Council will be the primary platform through which the states/union territories can put forth their views and concerns before the NCH.

• Within three years of the passage of the Bill, state governments will establish State Medical Councils for Homoeopathy at the state level.
• Members of the NCH will include: (i) the Chairperson, (ii) the President of the Homoeopathy Education Board, (iii) the President of the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Homoeopathy, (iv) the Director General, National Institute of Homoeopathy, (v) Advisor or Joint Secretary in-charge of Homoeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, and (vi) four members (part-time) to be elected by the registered homoeopathic medical practitioners from amongst themselves from the prescribed regional constituencies under the Bill.

Functions of the National Commission for Homoeopathy:

• Functions of the NCH include: (i) framing policies for regulating medical institutions and homoeopathic medical professionals, (ii) assessing the requirements of healthcare related human resources and infrastructure, (iii) ensuring compliance by the State Medical Councils of Homoeopathy of the regulations made under the Bill, and (iv) ensuring coordination among the autonomous boards set up under the Bill.

However,the Act provides a solid foundation for the growth of medical education and practice in Homoeopathy, but various bottlenecks in the functioning of Council have been experienced "which has resulted in serious detrimental effects on medical education as well as delivery of quality Homoeopathy healthcare services".
Entrance examinations

• There will be a uniform National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to under-graduate homoeopathy education in all medical institutions regulated by the Bill. 
• The NCH will specify the manner of conducting common counselling for admission in all such medical institutions.The Bill proposes a common final year National Exit Test for the students graduating from medical institutions to obtain the license for practice. 
• Further, there will be a uniform Post-Graduate National Entrance Test which will serve as the basis for admission into post-graduate courses at medical institutions.
• The Bill also proposes a National Teachers’ Eligibility Test for postgraduates of homoeopathy who wish to take up teaching homoeopathy as a profession.