Enhancing the quality across all areas of medical education is the top priority of the National Medical Commission, said the body’s newly appointed chairperson Dr BN Gangadhar on Wednesday. The NMC is the apex body responsible for regulating medical education in the country.
Gangadhar, appointed chairperson of NMC by the appointment committee of the cabinet, told News18 in an exclusive conversation that his “top focus area is to improve the standards across dimensions of medical education”.
The NMC has operated without a full-time chairperson since September 2023, even though the Union Health Ministry invited applications to fill the key position last year. Gangadhar, who is the former director of India’s top mental health institute, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), had been serving as the interim NMC chairman following the end of Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma’s tenure in September.
Now, Gangadhar has been officially appointed as the chairperson. Speaking to News18, he said the post of chairperson of NMC “is a big responsibility” and he “appreciates the excellent work done by all medical colleges across India to improve human resources”.
He said that these medical colleges are responsible for shaping the future of 1 lakh students.
Gangadhar, MD in Psychiatry from Bangalore University, believes that he needs to maintain a “delicate balance” going forward. “A delicate balance has to be struck between quality and increased inputs against the financial burden that colleges and medical education departments will have to face.”
Dr Gangadhar is credited with initiating the integration of yoga services for clinical applications in mental health and neurosciences. His colleagues from NIMHANS remember him for his role in conducting research in yoga therapy for various psychiatric disorders, with results that have shaped practice guidelines. “His work underscores the role of yoga in managing depression and schizophrenia,” claimed one of his colleagues who requested to remain anonymous as he was not allowed to speak to the media.
“He has written over 400 publications on areas like biological psychiatry, electroconvulsive therapy, schizophrenia, and yoga and around 100 have an H-index of 55, which indicated a significant impact and high citation rate of the research,” the former colleague said, adding that Gangadhar is a “team leader with sharp ethics and morals intact”.
Gangadhar has been the program director for NIMHANS Integrated Centre for Yoga since its inception and he led the de-addiction centre from 2003 to 2006.
A page on LinkedIn titled Manoshanti, which works on mental health in Maharashtra, congratulated Gangadhar by calling him “a man with vision and foresight”. “Medical education in India would benefit from his experience and wisdom,” the post said.
Industry insiders talk of his “soft leadership skills” which involve more empathy, emotional intelligence and relationship-building rather than authority and dominance.
Major Changes in NMC Posts
Additionally, the Health Ministry has announced that Dr Sanjay Behari, director of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, has been appointed as the president of the medical assessment and rating board.
Dr Anil D’Cruz, director (Oncology) of Apollo Hospital in Mumbai, has been named a full-time member of the post-graduate medical education board.
The appointment committee of the cabinet has also appointed Dr Rajendra Achyut Badwe, professor emeritus at Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, as a part-time member of the undergraduate medical education board for two years, until he turns 70 or until further notice, whichever comes first. Other appointments are for four years until the appointee attains the age of 70 years or until further orders, whichever is earliest.
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