DNA EXCLUSIVE: Medical Council’s changes to rules for disabled tabled

In an exclusive interview with the DNA, Dr VK Paul, Medical Council of India Chairman, Board of Governors reveals the upcoming policies and modifications in the existing guidelines.

Medicine fraternity and students have shown disagreement with the recently announced disability guidelines as per which anyone suffering from more than 80 percent disability cannot study medicine. Has MCI taken a note of that and will there be any modifications in the Gazette notification?

Taking due notice of the DNA newspaper report, where an MBBS doctor has been rejected from pursuing Postgraduation, and from the feedback received from his colleagues, we are now in the process of issuing a corrigendum on the Gazette guidelines for the disabled. We are happy to push boundaries for the benefit of all and thus, will soon announce the new regulations which include: those who have taken benefit under the disability quota, will be able to retain it that is they can pursue higher studies, a disability corrected with appliances or assistive devices including locomotor will be eligible, functional capability of the candidate will be a deciding factor only at the post-graduation level.

Has the GMER (Graduate Medical Education Regulation) been revised? The current GMER for undergraduate medical students has not seen revision since 1997, if yes, what are the new changes?

We have already revised the syllabus, which is now a competency-based curriculum and will be implemented from the next batch starting this year. MCI is now reaching out to colleges and universities to develop their syllabus in-line with the new curriculum.

The new curriculum will involve practices like, early clinical experience, integration across disciplines (horizontally and vertically), new series of foundation courses, a new concept of introducing ‘electives’, under which students can practice in clinics such as the Ayushman Bharat scheme and so on, it will be about ethics.

Has the Medical Council of India Board of Governors (BOG) made it mandatory for private medical colleges to pay stipends to MBBS interns?

Yes, we have implemented this. All the private medical colleges have been asked to pay a stipend to interns on par with what is offered in state-run institutions. The stipend is paid to interns for a one-year period of their compulsory internship following their four-year and six-month-long academic course.

Why is MCI scraping the three-year diploma at medical schools?

The move in this direction started in July 2018. Well, this is for the benefit of the diploma-holders itself, as they can study for one more year and get the same respect and benefits as that of degree-holders. 

What are some new guidelines/policies which the MCi is planning to introduce in the coming months?

We are in the process of making two announcements. These include — in paucity of availability of teachers, the MCI is now making hierarchy option available. Non-clinical subjects like anatomy and biochemistry can be taught by non-clinical teachers (holding M.Sc. degrees), and clinicians. 

We are also going to introduce a ‘criteria for publication in journals’. As we all know, many predatory journals have come up, which represent poor quality or hypothetical work. As per the new guidelines, the faculty publishing for criteria for promotion- publication needs to be in designated journals respected or notified by the MCI. We are also making a list of such journals.