All the Health Institutions imparting PG medical courses shall implement digital valuation: NMC Draft PGMER

New Delhi: Prescribing the process of evaluating the answer scripts, the Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) has specified digital evaluation for all the health Universities or institutes offering PG medical courses.

In this regard, the PG Board of NMC mentioned in the recently released Draft Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER) 2023, "All the Health Universities/Institutions imparting post-graduate courses shall implement digital valuation."

Chapter VIII of the Draft Regulations discussed in detail the Postgraduate examinations including the issue of examiners, valuation, number of examinations, and also the methodology for broad speciality MD/MS examinations (theory and practical), super specialities DM/MCh examinations, and also the PG Diploma exams.

NMC has clarified in the Draft that the medical college/institute will conduct the Formative Assessment (examination) and the University will conduct the Summative Assessment (examination). The summative examination shall consist of Theory and Practical.

Specifying about the passing criteria, the Draft stated, "Obtaining a minimum of 40% marks in each theory paper and not less than 50% aggregate in all the four papers for degree examination in broad specialty and super specialty subjects and obtaining 50% marks in practical examination shall be mandatory for passing the examination as a whole. Hence a candidate shall secure not less than 50% marks in theory and practical including clinical, Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and viva voce examination."

"Five per cent of practical marks will be of dissertation. External examiner outside the state will evaluate dissertation thesis and take viva on it and marks will be given on quality of dissertation and performance in viva voce. No grace mark is permitted in post-graduate examination either for theory or for practical," it further added.

Examiners:

a. The examiner for the post-graduate examination in Broad and Super Specialties shall have three years’ experience as recognized Post-graduate Guide in the concerned subject.

b. The minimum number of examiners for post-graduate examination shall be four. Out of which, at least two shall be external examiners and least one of them shall be from different university outside the state.

c. An examiner shall not be appointed for more than two consecutive regular examinations for the same institution.

Valuation:

a. All the teachers of the other colleges of the concerned University or other Universities, who are eligible to be post-graduate examiners, can perform the valuation of the answer scripts.

b. All the answer scripts shall be subjected for two valuations by the concerned University. The average of the total marks awarded by the two valuators for the paper, which is rounded off to the nearest value, shall be considered for computation of the results. All the answer scripts, where the difference between two valuations is 15% and more of the total marks prescribed for the paper, shall be subjected to third valuation. The average of the best two total marks, awarded by the three evaluators for the paper, rounded off to the nearest value, shall be considered for final computation of the results.

c. After the computation and declaration of the results, under no circumstances, revaluation is permitted by any authority.

d. All the Health Universities/Institutions imparting post-graduate courses shall implement digital valuation.

Number of Examinations:

The university shall conduct not more than two examinations in a year, for any subject, with an interval of not less than 4 and not more than 6 months between the two examinations.

Methodology:

A. Broad Specialties:

Doctor of Medicine (MD)/Master of Surgery (MS) MD/MS examinations, in any subject shall consist of theory papers, and clinical/practical and oral examinations.

a. Theory:

The theory examination may be of descriptive theory paper type or Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) type of equal duration of exam time. The descriptive type of theory exam shall be of four theory papers. The first and the fourth paper shall be on basic medical sciences and recent advances, respectively. The theory examination shall be held well in advance before the clinical and practical examination.

b. Clinical/Practical and Oral:

i. Clinical examination for the subjects in clinical sciences shall be conducted to test the knowledge and competence of the candidates for undertaking independent work as a specialist/teacher, for which candidates shall be examined for one long case and two short cases.

ii. Practical examination for other subjects shall be conducted to test the knowledge and competence of the candidates for making valid and relevant observations based on the experimental/ laboratory studies and his ability to perform such studies as are relevant to his subject.

iii. The oral examination shall be thorough and shall aim at assessing the candidate’s knowledge and competence about the subject, investigative procedures, therapeutic technique and other aspects of the specialty.

B. Super Specialties:

Doctorate of Medicine (DM)/Magister Chirurgiae (M.Ch.) The Examination consists of theory and clinical/practical and oral.

a. Theory

There shall be four theory papers. The first and the fourth paper shall be on basic medical sciences and recent advances respectively. The theory examination shall be held well in advance before the clinical and practical examination.

b. Clinical/Practical and Oral:

i. Clinical examination for the subjects in clinical sciences shall be conducted to test the knowledge and competence of the candidates for undertaking independent work as a specialist/teacher, for which candidates shall be examined for one long case and two short cases.

ii. Practical examination may consist of carrying out special investigative techniques for Diagnosis and Therapy. M.Ch. candidates shall also be examined in surgical procedures. Oral examination shall be comprehensive enough to test the candidate’s overall knowledge of the subject.

C. Post-graduate Diploma:

Diploma examination in any subject shall consist of theory and practical/clinical and oral.

a. Theory

There shall be three Theory papers. The first paper shall be on basic medical sciences. The theory examination will be held well in advance before the clinical examination.

b. Clinical and Oral

Clinical examination for the subject in clinical Science shall be conducted to test/aimed at assessing the knowledge and competence of the candidate for undertaking independent work as a specialist for which a candidate shall examine a minimum of one long case and two short cases. The oral examination shall be thorough and shall aim at assessing the candidate’s knowledge and competence about the subject, investigative procedures, therapeutic technique, and other aspects of the specialty.

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