NEET PG Counselling to be held in Online mode only, says NMC

The Commission has said that all rounds of NEET PG Counselling to be held only in online mode by state or central authority. Read here to know more details.

National Medical Commission (NMC) said that the counselling for postgraduate medical admissions will be done only in online mode now and no college will admit candidates on their own. Moreover, the colleges will have to declare fees for each course beforehand, added the Commission.

NMC recently notified the "Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2023" which reads, "There shall be common counselling for admission to post-graduate courses in medicine for all medical institutions in India solely based on the merit list of respective exams. Provided the common counselling may have multiple rounds as may be necessary.

All rounds of counselling for all seats will be held on online mode by state or central counselling authority and no medical college/ institution will admit any candidate themselves. While entering details in seat matrix, medical colleges shall mention the amount of fees for each course, failing which seat will not be counted. PGMEB of NMC shall publish guidelines and time schedule for the conduct of examination, common counselling, admission, joining and commencement of academic session."

Dr Vijay Oza, president of the postgraduate Medical Education Board of the NMC said, "Some changes in the examination system have also been introduced which include formative assessment and option of multiple-choice questions in university examinations. This is to bring objectivity in examination and match international standards," as reported by NDTV.

Change has been also made in the District Residency Programme (DRP) to facilitate its implementation for better training of students.

Previously, a district hospital was defined as a 100-bed hospital. In the new regulations, the requirement has been reduced to 50 beds, Dr Oza explained.

"Under the DRP, doctors can be trained in a district hospital which shall be a functional public sector/government-funded hospital of not less than 50 beds instead of the previous requirement of 100 beds," the regulations read.

The DRP aims to train post-graduate students in district health systems and hospitals to strengthen healthcare services at the grassroots level.

As per the new regulations, once a medical college is granted permission to start PG courses or seats, the course will be treated as recognised for registration of qualification for students.

This will solve many difficulties faced by students to register their degree after passing postgraduate examinations, Dr Oza said.

Also, UG medical colleges can start PG courses from the third year now. Earlier, it was from the fourth year in clinical specialties.

"Existing or proposed non-teaching hospitals owned and managed by the government can start postgraduate courses without having undergraduate colleges. This will facilitate the government to start postgraduate medical colleges in smaller government hospitals/district hospitals," Dr Oza said.

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