Maharashtra: Med schools to give degree not diplomas

In line with a scheme proposed by Medical Council of India (MCI). the government-run medical colleges in Maharashtra are set to convert their PG diploma streams into MD and MS courses. About 10 colleges from the state have written to the Board of Governors MCI (or MCI BoG) to sanction the conversion starting from the forthcoming academic year (2019-20).

The colleges were urged to do so by the Director of Medical Education and Research (DMER) after the Union ministry of health issued a public notice offering the last chance for medical colleges to avail of the MCI scheme for the conversion, pursuant to the council’s decision to scrap its recognised diploma courses in medical colleges.

On receipt of the application for conversion, the ministry will issue a notification omitting diploma from the courses offered by the medical colleges and forward the same along with undertaking by the medical colleges to MCI BoG. The deadline for doing this is February 28 for the 2019-20 academic year. “The existing diploma seats in government medical colleges will get converted into MD and MS. So far the process has been completed by Mumbai’s Grant Medical College and Solapur’s Dr. Vaishampayan Memorial Government Medical College and their seats will be converted from next year. We are asking other medical colleges to come forward and initiate the transition,” informed Dr Tatyarao Lahane, DMER.

Reiterating the ongoing exercise, Dr Shivkumar Utture, president of Maharashtra Medical Colleges, said, “There are various MCI criteria on the basis of which medical colleges can offer MD and MS course. Now there is also the option to convert existing diploma into MD and MS, if MCI approves.”