Doctors body terms NMC PG Medical Education Regulations ‘anti-student and anti-democratic’

The NMC has proposed common counselling for admission in all medical educational institutions for PG courses (Diploma/ MD/ MS) on the basis of merit list of the National Exit Test.

The Draft Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations published by the National Medical Commission (NMC) has not gone down well with the medical professionals, with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) terming it as “anti-federal, anti-student and anti-democratic.”

The proposed regulations aim at having common counselling for admission to all postgraduate broad -speciality courses in medical colleges across the country based on the merit list of the National Exit Test.

At present, the broad speciality post-graduation course admission is through National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) PG and 50 percent admission is done by the All-India quota by the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) and the rest 50 percent seats are filled by the state governments as per the state social justice norms with NEET PG marks by the Directorate of Medical Education of the respective States.
However, the draft regulation proposes common counselling for admission in all medical educational institutions for PG courses (Diploma/ MD/ MS) on the basis of merit list of the National Exit Test and to all Postgraduate Super- Specialty courses (DM/MCh) on the basis of the merit list of the NEET.

The IMA has alleged that with changed norms, entire seats will be filled by the central government and state governments will have no role in this. “India being a federal state, leaving the role of states in Medical Education will be disastrous,” IMA said in a statement.

‘Language barrier will negatively impact services’

The doctors association has demanded that the existing system of admission and selection criteria must continue for the PG seats as the state medical colleges are staffed and managed by the budget of state government and when not even 50% of seats are earmarked for the respective state, the maintenance and running of the institution will lose its charm and priority.

Dr J A Jayalal, National President, IMA said: “When the students are getting admission in non-native states, the language barrier and social contact will negatively render their services. The compassion, empathy, and community connections are amplified when students are getting in touch with their own known people, instead of people and society not connected with them.”

According to IMA, the public health system of the state will be jeopardized as the students will not have to serve locally after postgraduation and will go to their native state.

NEXT Exam

The NMC has announced to conduct the NEXT exam from 2023, the doctors are of the view that it has yet to give clarity on the proposed NEXT exam. However, as per the NMC notification, when a student writes his exam, the mark he scores will be valid for three years and he can rewrite the exam only after three years.

“This is a great injustice step to the students. As it has proposed to conduct the NEXT exams in 2023, the NMC should come out with the pattern and type of examination after having wider democratic consultation with the student's body, faculty, States, and largest professional body IMA,” alleges IMA.

The IMA has demanded that the NMC should withdraw the “anti-federal, anti-student and anti-democratic, anti-patent care, and public health draft bill and try to initiate dialogue with the stakeholders” to understand the ground reality and do course correction to ensure uniform standards of education is provided and equally uniform pattern of the scale of pay, stipend and facilities are provided to interns, faculties and residents too.

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