File this one under sad irony. The Medical Council of India, which recently proposed penal punishment for doctors accepting cash and any other gifts from drugmakers (see here), is being dissolved after its president, Ketan Desai, was arrested on charges of corruption, The Hindu reports.

Over the weekend, India’s President, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, signed an ordinance empowering the government to dissolve the Medical Council of India, the regulatory body that is responsible for maintaining standards of medical education. A seven-member Board of Governors was created to assume the functioning of the 30-member executive council, the MCI’s highest decision-making body.

Just two months ago, the MCI generated considerable attention by proposing to penalize docs for accepting cash and other goodies. The move was made in response to criticism that a voluntary code lacked teeth (see this). At the time, Desai was quoted as saying: “Faith in the profession has been dented. We are trying to bring it back. We are not trying to do any policing. We are professionals. This should not happen in a profession that is called noble.”