Medical PG from non-teaching hospitals now equal to MD, MS

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 30

Medical postgraduate degrees from top non-teaching hospitals like Sir Gangaram, Sitaram Bhartia and others will now be equal to MD/MS degrees from teaching institutions and hospitals like PGI, AIIMS and other state medical colleges.

The Health Ministry on Tuesday approved the long-standing demand of the Diplomate of National Board PG holders for equivalence with MS and MS counterparts. 

The new Board of Governors of MCI recently approved this equivalence. Health Minister JP Nadda has now cleared its notification. DNB is a degree awarded by the National Board of Examinations. DNB courses allow postgraduate education outside medical colleges and in non-teaching hospitals. 

Due to the shortage of medical faculty in medical colleges, the government had earlier decided to equate DNB with other MD/MS, DM/M.Ch qualifications. However MCI’s June 5, 2017 notification on minimum qualifications for teachers in medical institutions regulations stood in the way as it prescribed one-year senior residency and three-year experience as a resident in a medical college for teaching positions.

A ministry source said MCI interpreted rules to say that DNB holders must undergo three years’ junior residency in an MCI-recognised medical college to be able to teach. “MCI refused to count DNB course duration as work experience for teaching jobs,” an official said.

As per the revised criteria, candidates who have undergone DNB training in an institution that runs MCI-recognised postgraduate degree courses or have undergone DNB training in a multispecialty teaching hospital with at least 500 beds, their DNB qualifications will be on a par with MCI-recognised qualifications in a given subject. 

Candidates passing from 100 or more bed hospitals will need to work for one additional year as senior resident in a MCI-recognised or permitted institution for equivalence with MD/MS/DM or M.Ch. In all other cases, candidates will have to work two additional years as senior resident or research associates at CSIR or MCI recognised medical colleges for equivalence.

Boost to faculty in medical colleges  

• The move will bring relief to Diplomate in National Board (DNB) graduates and boost faculty in medical colleges
• Of 40,000 medical PG seats in India, 6,500 are DNB. The government plans to increase DNB seats to 22,000 by 2022