Talking to media persons in Kasauli, he said cleansing these councils was a major challenge and support of all sections of society, including the media, was imperative to accomplish this task.
The MCI is an autonomous body and the government has no say in its functioning and as such its functioning should be totally transparent leaving no room for any criticism or levelling of charges of grave nature, Ramadoss said.
He said the national rural health mission being launched in 18 states, including Himachal Pradesh, in the first phase would go a long way in strengthening health services in rural areas where nearly 70 per cent of the population lives.
Ramadoss said that under the mission the health sub centres and community health centres would be strengthened and all modern facilities including equipment, specialists, blood storage, diagnosis, medicines and para medical staff would be made available at these centres.
He said there are 3222 community health centres in the country and efforts would be made to increase the number to 6000.
Ramadoss said the ambitious programme for better health care for rural people would be in place in next one and half years. Referring to his remarks about review of syllabus for MBBS courses, he said he had never said anything about integration of Indian system of medicine with allopathy.
"The syllabus of MBBS has become outdated and is examination-oriented, leaving less room for practical experience," he added.
The health minister said several areas like geriatrics, modern diagnostic and problems of rural and social sectors were not covered in the syllabus.
The average age of people had increased to 55 years and expected to go up to 70 years in the next two decades and health problems of ages people would require more focus.
He said Yoga and Ayurveda were becoming very popular in countries like America and a lot a research was going on and India, being the repository of this knowledge, should not neglect it.
Ramadoss said golden triangle of Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Council for Medical Research and India System of Medicine has been formed for integrated research and a sum of Rs120 crore has been provided for this.
He said a digital library of traditional knowledge of various plants and medicines in the Indian system was being prepared for classification and patenting. Patenting offices have been opened in 11 countries and the related literature also made available in several foreign languages including English, German, Spanish, French and Chinese.
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