7 Days AYUSH internship to stay for MBBS students

Earlier, the NMC had released draft guidelines on MBBS internship proposing a portion of the internship in areas of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Homeopathy, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa as a part of options where an MBBS medico can intern.

Now retaining the said clause, NMC has made it mandatory for MBBS students to spend 7 days in one of the departments of the Indian System of Medicine (ISM) and may choose any of the given electives, provided the discipline is available in the same College/ Institution where the Internship is done.

"If the college does not have facilities for Electives in AYUSH, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with any Government institution in the same town/ city / district may be established by the college; training must be certified by the mentor with the concurrence of college/ institution where the candidate is enrolled for MBBS," the NMC regulations stated.

The Internship shall be completed within two years of passing the final MBBS or Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) or NExT Step-1 examination, whenever in force. The minimum duration of compulsory rotating medical internship may be extended appropriately by a reasonable period on recommendation by the College or University, the regulations said.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that as a part of their internship, each MBBS medico will have to undergo training in certain departments which have been classified as Mandatory Exclusive, Mandatory Concurrent as well as Elective Exclusives. 7 Departments have been classified as mandatory exclusives which include a 2-month training in Community Medicine, 1.5 months training in the department of Medicine, 2 weeks in Psychiatry, 1 month in Pediatrics, 1.5 months each in departments of Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2 weeks in Emergency and Trauma, 2 weeks in Orthopedics and 1 week each in the departments of Dermatology/Venereology/Leprology as well as Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. Besides, 3 departments have been classified as Mandatory Concurrent including 2 weeks internship each in departments of ENT, Opthalmology and Laboratory Medicine. As a part of this, a medico will also have to spend two weeks understanding the nitty-gritties of Hospital science including Microbiology, hospital infection control, biomedical waste management, medical record keeping, and hospital information services.

Further, as a part of the internship, MBBS medicos will also have to spend time taking elective exclusives. These include 2 weeks in one of the chosen of broad specialities group and one week in chosen of the super-specialities group. Additionally now, as per the guidelines, an MBBS intern will also have to spend 1 week of training in one of the departments of ISM and may choose any of the given electives, provided the discipline is available in the same College/ Institution where the Internship is done. The options given include Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Homeopathy, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa.

Read Also: MBBS internship to now include training in AYUSH disciplines: NMC draft guidelines

Thereafter, when NMC asked for suggestions and comments on the draft guidelines, several doctors' associations including IMA, FORDA, FAIMA, and member of NMC questioned the inclusion of AYUSH Elective and even wrote to the Apex Medical Education Regulatory body.

Expressing its concern that exposure in another system of medicine for the one-week period is likely to pave the way to a "half-baked mixopath," the letter by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had stated that the results of such inclusions would be "disastrous for the country".

Later, when the matter came up for discussion in Lok Sabha, MoS Health Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar stated, "These draft Regulations have a provision of one week internship in electives exclusive for Indian Systems of Medicine. This part is not mandatory, but elective. The students may choose any elective, provided the discipline is available in the same college / Institution where Internship is being done (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy, Sowa Rigpa)."

"The rationale behind including this elective is to providing exposure of Ayush disciplines to MBBS students," further added the Minister.

While addressing the question whether the similar kind of mandatory training in Allopathic system of Medicines has been made applied to the AYUSH students as well, Minister Pawar stated, "The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) has informed that as per the Indian Medicine Central Council (Minimum Standards of Education in Indian Medicine), Amendment Regulation, 2016, one-year internship programme for BAMS students is divided into clinical training of six months in the Ayush hospital attached to the college and six months in Primary Health Centre or Community Health Centre or Rural Hospital or District Hospital or Civil Hospital or any Government Hospital of modern medicine."

"It also provides that where there is no provision or permission of the State Government for allowing the graduate of Ayush in the hospital or dispensary of Modern Medicine, the one-year Internship shall be completed in the hospital of AYUSH college."

Read Also: 7 day AYUSH Training for MBBS Medicos NOT mandatory: Health minister informs Parliament

However, after receiving apprehensions on the inclusion of AYUSH electives in MBBS training, the NMC has made no change to this clause and now it is compulsory for MBBS medicos to tender internship by choosing one of the electives from the Indian System of Medicine.