MCI, NBE crack down on ‘illegal’ PG medical courses

The Medical Council of India (MCI) and the National Board of Examination (NBE) have cracked down on institutions running unrecognised PG courses, including those in emergency medicine.

Earlier this week, the MCI issued a notification that any postgraduate or super-specialisation course started without prior government permission is illegal. In particular, it pointed out that the masters in emergency medicine (MEM) courses offered by Max Super Specialty Hospital, Delhi, Mohali and Dehradun were illegal. NBE too has issued a notification saying MEM degrees not recognised by MCI would not be treated as qualification for faculty positions.

The NBE has also written to all hospitals granted DNB (Diplomate of National Board, a postgraduate course) seats to report if they were running courses like MEM parallel to DNB courses. Many hospitals discontinued MEM as it was found that they were using the same patient load and faculty to run DNB and MEM courses, adversely affecting the quality of DNB training. Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, Kolkata has terminated the Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMI) affiliated course in emergency medicine after the NBE cracked down. Six hospitals have assured NBE that they are not running any parallel courses.

Meanwhile, five hospitals have claimed that patient load and faculty for the DNB programme are separate from the faculty for other parallel courses they are running and have also claimed that they have enough patient load to run the parallel courses. However, with NBE not mak ing the inspection reports of these hospitals public, students cannot verify these claims. An NBE spokesperson told TOI that the claims of these hospitals will be looked into during their annual review.

When contacted, a spokesperson for Max said its course was merely a skill-building programme for MBBS doctors offered by George Washington University (GWU), for which doctors got a GWU certificate. The spokesperson said students were informed and made to sign a consent form informing them at the very beginning that the course was not recognised or approved by the MCI.