[2][3][4][5] The growth of privately run medical colleges, starting in the 1980s, presented a major regulatory challenge for the MCI.

"[2] In 2001, the Dehli High Court ordered the removal of the MCI president Ketan Desai after concluding that the organization suffered from a high level of corruption[4] with Desai found guilty of corruption and abuse of power.

[18] The council was superseded by the President of India and its functions entrusted to a Board of Governors, notified on 13 May 2011.

[19] The NITI Aayog, an Indian government think tank, presented a draft towards a new National Medical Commission (NMC) in 2016.

[9] Restructuring and reforming the MCI was also the subject of a 2017 report that was part of the Brookings India Impact Series.

[5] The Supreme Court of India authorized the Central Government to replace the MCI and to utilize a team of five specialized doctors to monitor the nation's medical education system, from July 2017.

The Central Information Commission stated that the MCI had failed to disclose requested meeting notes and membership records surrounding the suspension records of Desai in 2017, and would not furnish the requested qualifications of professors and doctors who inspected medical colleges for the MCI since 2013.

[19] The government of India issued an ordinance on 26 September 2018 to divest the functions of the MCI and replace it with a seven member board of governors.