Page:Introductory Address on the General Medical Council, its Powers and its Work.djvu/14

 names of those who have passed certain tests of professional fitness. These are called Registered Practitioners, and these alone the law declares to be duly or legally qualified. The Council has to see that the tests of professional fitness actually applied by the Examining Bodies to aspirants for registration are "sufficient." The tests must ensure that those who pass them possess "the knowledge and skill requisite for the efficient practice of medicine, surgery, and midwifery." The Council has also to see that no registered person, who by crime or misconduct has become unworthy of the legal status which registration confers, shall remain on the Register. In other words, the two great functions which the Council in the public interest discharges are, first, to prevent the unfit from gaining access to the Register, and, secondly, to remove the unworthy from it. Except as to a few subsidiary matters, such as the preparation of the Pharmacopœia, the control of Diplomas in Public Health, the scrutiny of the Midwives' Rules, and the like, all its powers and all its work in relation to the medical and dental professions have reference to these two functions. It is a Council of Education and a Board of Registration.

It is a Council of Education, but it neither teaches nor examines. It cannot lay down a code or curriculum compulsory on all medical students. It cannot inspect a single medical school. Its statutory powers are indeed strictly limited. It can order the visitation and inspection of the various examinations held by Universities and Colleges in the United Kingdom, for the purpose of testing candidates for their respective medical degrees or diplomas. And it can require from these bodies information concerning the course of study, and the age of candidates, which they prescribe. If, from the inspection of the examinations or the information supplied as to the curricula, the Council comes to the conclusion that either are "insufficient," it has no power to disallow them or to order that they shall be amended. It forwards its report to the body concerned, takes note of any observations the body