PG Times

The NMC has sought comments from all the stakeholders on the implementation and preparation of conducting the National Exit Test (NExT) by filling up the feedback form by February 7. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has written to the National Medical Commission (NMC) stating that the implementation of the NExT without proper evaluation would jeopardise the affordability and accessibility of medical education and urged it to reconsider certain provisions. The NMC has sought comments from all the stakeholders on the implementation and preparation of conducting the National Exit Test (NExT) by filling up the feedback form by February 7. The stakeholders have also been requested to go-through the NMC National Exit Test Regulations, 2023. NExT defeats vision of affordable medical education The doctors' body said bringing in the NExT defeats the vision of the prime minister and government of affordable and accessible medical education by seriously hampering the survival of medical i...

  In a bid to check the depleting number of specialists in the Provincial Medical and Health Services (PMHS), the UP has made it mandatory for government doctors seeking the NOC to pursue post-graduate courses to serve in the cadre for at least 10 years. Those who don't do so will have to pay back Rs 1 crore as penalty to the government. "As per the rule, the in-service doctors who undertake PG courses will have to give in writing that they would return to the primary cadre upon completion of their programme and serve for a minimum period of 10 years. In case they fail, they will have to pay a fine of Rs 1 crore to the state exchequer,” said additional chief secretary Amit Mohan Prasad. Rules in this regard had been framed through an order issued by the Yogi Adityanath government in April 2017. Prasad issued a fresh order on Thursday to enforce this order strictly. The same order also stated that in-service doctors who leave the PG course mid-way will be debarred from taki...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its order on the interim question whether Tamil Nadu and Kerala should provide 50% in-service reservation for admissions to super-specialty medical courses in government colleges for the current academic year.  A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao was hearing a batch of pleas filed by doctors, including postgraduate holders qualified in NEET 2020, challenging reservation of seats for in-service candidates in super-specialty courses. The Tamil Nadu government argued that there was an acute need for super-specialty qualified doctors both in the medical academia and in practice.  The States argued that preparation for admission to these courses had started almost immediately following the Constitution Bench judgment on August 31. The judgment had empowered States to devise a separate channel of entry for in-service doctors. “State has the legislative competence and authority to provide for a separate source of entry for in-service ...

The Medical Council of India’s board of governors has approved increasing postgraduate medical seats for MD and MS programmes by over 4,800 to 36,192 for the next academic session, an official said on Monday. BoG chairman and Niti Aayog member V.K. Paul said the increase is more than the total number of additional seats created in the past five years. “The Narendra Modi government in 2014 had promised to double PG and UG medical seats by 2024. So, in that direction the board of governors-vested with power of the Medical Council of India has given its approval to increase postgraduate medical seats (broad speciality) in 2020-21 session by 4,807. “So, as a result, in the new academic session counselling, 36,192 PG medical seats (MD/MS, broad speciality) will be available,” Paul said. Paul also said the capacity expansion would improve tertiary care in the country. “In 2020-21 academic session, approximately 44,000 postgraduate medical seats (36,192 MD/MS seats a...

The State Government on Tuesday hiked the stipend for doctors pursuing Pre and Para-Clinical Post Graduation courses in Government-run Medical College and Hospitals. As per the decision, stipend has been increased to Rs 48,302 from Rs 39,950 for first year students, Rs 50,658 for second year and Rs 53,014 for third year, respectively. “The CM has approved financial incentive of Rs 18,000 per month for doctors pursuing Pre and Para-Clinical Post Graduation courses in Govt Medical Colleges. Both In-service& Direct PG students will get incentive over & above their salary & stipend respectively,” said Health and Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena in a press release. “Incentive will encourage more students to take up Pre and Para Clinical disciplines as Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, FMT, Pathology, Microbiology & Community Medicine and lead to filling up of vacant posts in Government services,” the Minister added. The State Government had earl...

The National Board of Examinations (NBE), regulatory body for postgraduate medical education, has removed its executive director Bipin Batra for allegedly occupying the post in violation of rules. The move comes in the wake of allegations of irregularities, lack of transparency and malfunctioning of the NBE administration, with the latest being charges of malpractices in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). The autonomous body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in a meeting here yesterday, also ordered an inquiry into various charges of irregularities against Batra. “Bipin Batra shall cease to discharge the functions of executive director, NBE, with immediate effect,” said a draft resolution adopted by the board. It also said Rashmikant Dave, vice president, NBE has been appointed honorary executive director till a regular appointment is made to the post in compliance with rules. NBE president Abhijat Sheth, when contacted by PTI, ...

The Kerala government has passed orders fixing the fee for PG medical courses(clinical) at ₹14 lakh. Non-clinical PG degree would cost ₹8.5 lakh. This fee would be applicable for colleges under the Kerala Christian Professional College Management Federation for the academic year 2017-18. The fee was arrived at following discussions between the federation representatives and the Health Minister. The annual fee for the PG diploma (clinical) course would be ₹10.5 lakh. The fee for the superspecialty course would be ₹18.5 lakh. The fee for the NRI quota would be ₹35 lakh. The R. Rajendra Babu Fee Regulatory Committee on Friday passed order making this fee structure applicable to all other self-financing colleges in the State.

With the arrest of two people, Delhi Police have cracked a case wherein computer servers were allegedly hacked during the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET-PG), held to admit students into postgraduate medical courses in December, 2016. Raids are also being held in Delhi, Bengaluru, Bihar and other cities to nab the rest of the accused, which include some doctors, police said. Police said the arrested persons have been identified as Abhishek Singh, a native of Varanasi, and Atul Vats, a native of Patna. “Police received information on January 20 that some people cracked the online medical entrance examination, held between December 5 and December 13, after hacking the servers. With the help of technical surveillance, police identified the accused and teams were formed to unearth the conspiracy,” police sources said, adding that a case has been registered following a complaint by Inspector Ashish Kumar, who was the leading the investigation team before Inspector Lokendr...

In a bid to encourage government doctors to serve in remote areas, the government plans to provide them with reservation in postgraduate courses, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday. Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste said during Question Hour that the government proposes to bring the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill to ensure that 50 per cent of the seats in postgraduate courses in government colleges are reserved by States for medical officers in government services who have served “at least three years in remote and difficult areas.” The Bill proposes that after completing the PG course, the medical officers could once again be asked to serve another three-year term in a difficult area. The Minister said the WHO country office has clarified that there was no report in the recent past that stated that 70 per cent of the rural population in the country has minimal access to healthcare.

To ensure availability of specialist doctors at the secondary and tertiary levels, the Centre today announced the creation of additional 5,000 post- graduate (PG) seats every year even as it increased the budget allocation for the health sector by almost 28 per cent. The government also announced setting up of two more All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jharkhand and Gujarat and asserted that it has prepared an action plan to eliminate kala-azar and filariasis by 2017, leprosy by 2018, measles by 2020 and tuberculosis by 2025. The Centre said that while Drugs and Cosmetics Rules will be amended to ensure availability of drugs at reasonable prices, new rules for regulating medical devices will also be formulated soon while asserting that 1.5 lakh health sub- centres will be transformed into Health and Wellness Centres across the country. According to the Union Budget 2017 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today, the budget allocation for healt...

Dr Heena Gavit, MP from Nandurbar district, had skipped her medical bond services after being elected.  Three days after HT reported how Dr Heena Gavit, MP from Nandurbar district, skipped her medical bond services after being elected, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) said that they have approached the state government to allow elected representatives to skip bond services after completing their graduation and post-graduation exams. The decision has raised a furore among the medical fraternity, that alleged discrimination between meritorious students and politically-backed candidates. On October 21, HT reported about the Right To Information (RTI) query, that authorities from Dr Gavit’s alma mater JJ Hospital answered. It said that the hospital had handed over her original documents despite the fact that she did not adhere to the norms of medical education after completing her post-graduation. It further said that she had not paid Rs 50lakh as the ...

Kalam Books has come out with a new book titled ‘ PG NEXT ” for the NEET-PG aspirants. The book contains more than 2500 MCQs arranged in subject-wise manner covering all the subjects of undergraduate medical curricula. The questions are arranged in subject-wise manner so that students who want to check their preparation in a particular subject can do so easily. The MCQs have been chosen carefully based on the latest NEET / AIPGMEE pattern, so as to acquaint the readers with the type of questions likely to be asked in the forthcoming NEET-PG exam. Detailed explanatory answers have been provided for each and every MCQ asked in the question section. References from the latest editions of the standard textbooks have been provided for in-depth learning. Numerous tables, flow-charts, diagrams and mnemonics have been incorporated at appropriate places making the process of learning easy for students. Emphasis has been given on grasping the basic concept behind the questions instead ...

Q1. Who shall conduct the NEET-PG 2017? National Board of Examinations is the prescribed authority for conduct of NEET-PG for entrance to MD/MS/PG Diploma Courses in terms of Section 10 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 as amended in 2016. Q2. How many test centres have been engaged for NEET-PG? NEET-PG shall be held in 86 test centers at 41 cities. Q3. What is the scheme of NEET-PG? NEET-PG shall be held as a Computer Based Test and shall comprise of 300 Multiple Choice Questions from the MBBS curriculum followed at medical colleges in India duly prescribed as per the Graduate Medical Education Regulation notified by Medical Council of India with prior approval of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. Q4. What is the scope of NEET-PG? NEET-PG 2017 shall be a single eligibility cum entrance examination namely ‘National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to Postgraduate Medical Courses’ for the academic session 2017 wh...

India's largest body of doctors plans to oppose a government move for reforms in medical education that would, among other initiatives, introduce a mandatory licentiate examination that all medical graduates would need to pass to practise medicine. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) will oppose the common licentiate examination proposed by a panel chaired by Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya in a draft bill seeking to establish a new regulatory system to govern medical education and practice, IMA officials said. "Such an exam will pose an unnecessary burden on our medical students - we are against this idea," Gundarlahalli Naganna Prabhakar, a surgeon in Tumkur (Karnataka) and the president of the Karnataka branch of the IMA, told  PG Times. About 45,000 medical graduates emerge each year from India's 300-odd medical colleges, and under existing rules, once they have cleared their final examination at the end of their course, they can regi...

The Supreme Court has upheld the regulation of Medical Council of India (MCI) to give incentive marks to doctors working in rural areas for getting admission to PG courses, saying it would encourage medical practitioners to opt for assignments in remote areas facing acute shortage of doctors.A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said on Tuesday that the academic merit of a candidate should also reckon the services rendered for public good and there was nothing wrong in the regulation framed by MCI. It said marks obtained in the common entrance examination should not be the sole criteria for admission to PG courses in medical science. “The provision in the shape of Regulation 9 is to determine the merit of the competing candidates. Provision for giving incentive marks to in-service candidates is permissible in law; and thus the proviso to Clause IV in the Regulation must be upheld in larger public interest,“ said Justice Khanwilkar, ...

NITI Aayog, government's premier think-tank, has sought public opinion on the draft National Medical Commission Bill, 2016 that would pave the way for replacing the Medical Council of India with a more transparent body to be called as the National Medical Commission. "The idea is to create a world class medial education system that ensures adequate supply of high quality medical professionals, greater emphasis on research, provides for objective periodic assessment of medical institutions, enforces high ethical standards and is flexible to adopt to the changing needs of transforming nation," the Aayog has said in the draft bill. The Committee on the Reform of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 chaired by Aayog's vice chairman Arvind Panagariya has sought comments/suggestions/feedback on the draft bill latest by August 31, 2016. Following this, the draft bill will be finalised and would be tabled in Parliament earliest in the winter session. The bil...

The Delhi government will re-designate 1,000 doctors as professors and junior professors, said Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday at a Delhi Medical Association (DMA) conference. This move is an attempt to reduce corruption in medical education, he said. “According t o the MCI (Medical Council of India) guideline, any doctor who has experience of 18 years or more is eligible to become a professor. And, we have several doctors who have been working in our hospitals for more 30 years. We will make them professors, associate professors and additional professors to reduce the artificial scarcity of teaching doctors,” Jain said. He also urged the MCI to at least double the number of postgraduation seats in India. “Currently, there are around 52,000 MBBS seats in the country and only about 15-20,000 PG seats. The students spend their last years in the MBBS course and the internship period preparing for postgraduation and end up losing out on practical experience. And,...

A government panel has proposed a licentiate examination that all medical graduates would need to pass to practise medicine, addressing long-standing concerns about diverse teaching standards in medical colleges across India but angering some doctors. If the proposal is accepted, an estimated 45,000 medical graduates each year will need to take a new examination to earn practising licences. The recommendation is among a set of reforms the panel has suggested in a draft bill to create a new regulatory architecture for medicine. The panel is chaired by Arvind Panagariya, the vice-chairperson of the Niti Aayog. The bill has also proposed that private medical colleges be given "freedom" to charge whatever they deem appropriate for 60 per cent of their seats while the government would regulate fees in the remaining 40 per cent. The Niti Aayog has sought public responses to the draft national medical commission bill. Many doctors have in the past advocated...