NEW DELHI: India’s medical education regulator, on being nudged by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has made it mandatory for all medical colleges to offer PG courses within three years of starting MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine/ Bachelor of Surgery) courses.The Medical Council of India amendments to the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, has mandated all new and existing medical colleges — both public and private colleges — to start postgraduate courses from academic year 2020-21.
The amendments also suggest that the institutions failing to comply with new regulations will lose their recognition.“The move is aimed at addressing the issue of acute shortage of specialist doctors in the country,” a senior Health Ministry official said. Government data suggest that while the country produces 63,835 MBBS graduates every year, it has less than 25,000 Post-Graduate seats. As a result, more than 80 per cent of specialists’ positions are reported to be lying vacant in community health centres.
Recently the Centre had also amended rules to allow postgraduate diploma holders to practice as specialists and carry out procedures that only postgraduate degree holders were permitted to do earlier.
Amending the Indian Medical Council Act 1956, the Ministry, in consultation with the MCI had notified that all the diploma courses, conducted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), Mumbai will be considered as a recognised qualification retrospectively from 2009. This effectively meant that the CPS diploma holders can now be hired as specialists in public as well as private hospitals.