Can PG medicos be considered as Senior Residents in particular speciality? NMC clarifies

New Delhi: Issuing explanation and to offer a better understanding of the recently released "Guidelines for Under Graduate Courses under Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses & Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023," the National Medical Commission (NMC) has now released the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to these guidelines.

In its FAQs, the NMC has clarified whether PG medicos can be considered Senior Residents (SR) in a particular speciality.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has stated that 'PG students are not SRs. They shall be junior resident doctors. SRs are candidates with PG qualifications of the concerned speciality." 

NMC notified these guidelines in the Official Gazette on August 16, 2023, and on the same day, they came into force. Through these guidelines, the Apex Medical Commission laid down the minimum standard requirements for starting a new medical college and also to increase seats in the existing courses.

Now, NMC has released the FAQs in respect of these guidelines to provide clarity regarding several issues and queries. The issues addressed in the FAQs include the time when these guidelines will be applicable and for whom, whether the colleges can apply for increase of seats beyond the seat capacity of 150 MBBS seats, the prerequisites for application to increase seats to the limit of 150, role of State Governments/UTs as per the UG-MSR 2023 etc.

Whether the college can be allowed to admit students under any additional permitted seat quota, if there is any requirement to seek fresh Essentiality Certificate from the government and fresh Consent of Affiliation from the University while applying for increase of seats, whether the Department of Respiratory Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation can continue functioning after publication of these guidelines etc. have also been answered in the FAQs.

Further, the Apex Medical Commission has also addressed the issues including the status of Emergency Medicine department in UG, the applicability of Aadhar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) & Close Circuit TV Monitoring, minimum requirement of attendance, deficiency of Senior Residents, and questions related to S.Rs.

However, NMC clarified, "These FAQs are in the nature of explanation for ease of understanding of the general public and cannot be upheld in a court of law. Please refer to the relevant Guidelines for legal validity."

The FAQs released by NMC are as follows:

Q1. Since when will these guidelines be applicable?

These guidelines are applicable since the date of publication i.e. from 1st August, 2023.

Q2. To whom are these guidelines applicable?

(i) These guidelines are applicable to every medical college/institution which comes under the jurisdiction of National Medical Commission and/or wishes to apply for establishment of new medical college or increase in seats for academic session 2024-25 onwards.

(ii) All the existing medical colleges shall be eligible for continuing their admissions with permitted/recognised number of MBBS seats from the academic year 2024-2025 only if they fulfil the requirements mentioned in these guidelines published on 1st August, 2023.

Q3. Whether the colleges can be allowed to apply for increase in seats beyond seat capacity of 150?

No medical colleges/institutes shall be allowed to increase its admission capacity beyond 150, after publication of these guidelines (UG-MSR 2023).

However, such medical colleges/institutions who have already applied for increase of MBBS seats (for 200 or 250) for the academic year 2023-24 but were not granted permission due to some reason, may seek/apply for permission to increase in admission capacity with same number (either 200 or 250 seats) in the year 2024-25. This provision is applicable to them only for one year i.e. 2024-25.

In case, they fail to obtain the permission for increase in admission capacity in MBBS course during the academic year 2024-25 for any reason, admissions shall be restricted to 150 seats only.

Q4. What are the prerequisites for application for increase in seats to the limit of 150?

(i) Colleges seeking increase in seats for admission, shall have admitted batch fulfilling all the criteria for number of seats admitted for the preceding academic year and also shall be fulfilling all the minimum requirements for increase in seat capacity.

(ii) The medical college shall follow the ratio of 100 MBBS seats for 10 lakh population in that state/ U.T.

Q5. What is the role of State Government States/UTs as per new UG-MSR 2023 ?

State Governments/UTs are required to consider and verify the ratio of 100 MBBS seats for 10 lakh population in their state/ U.T. while issuing new Essentiality Certificate for establishment of new medical college or increase of MBBS seats in an existing medical college in the State/UT.

Q6. Whether the college can be allowed to admit students under any additional permitted seat quota?

No excess admission shall be allowed in any circumstances under any quota.

All admissions including for reserved quota shall be within the number of seats granted for admission to that college e.g. if a college has been allowed to admit additional 5 seats under EWS quota, then these 5 seats shall be adjusted from the total sanctioned seats.

Q7. Is it necessary to seek fresh Essentiality Certificate from the government and fresh Consent of Affiliation from the university while applying for increase in seats?

The required certificates shall be valid (as per MARB Regulations) at the time of application submitted by the institution/college for establishment of new medical college/increase of MBBS seats.

Q8. Whether the Department of Respiratory Medicine and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation can continue functioning after the publication of these guidelines?

These two departments can continue functioning and seek application for Postgraduation Courses as per PGMER 2023. The faculty of Respiratory Medicine department can be counted for Medicine and that of PMR can be counted for Orthopedics for UG courses.

Q9. Is the department of Emergency medicine done away with in UG in the new guidelines?

Emergency services are mandatory for every hospital affiliated to the medical college. However, the management of the department at UG level shall be arranged by the Head of the institution in such a way that 24 x 7 services shall be made available, year-round for the patients and it shall be the primary responsibility of the concerned department to provide adequate training of the undergraduate students in that department during their clinical postings. The Department of Emergency Medicine shall be under PGMER as published from time to time.

Q10. For whom will the Aadhar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) & Close Circuit TV Monitoring be applicable?

All the medical colleges are required to install AEBAS, linked to Command & Control Centre of National Medical Commission. It is mandatory for every faculty and every student of all Medical Colleges/ Institutions and hospitals to mark their attendance through AEBAS only. This shall be the sole responsibility of the management of the concerned medical college/institute to install the required number of bio-metric/face recognition machines & provide other necessary infrastructure for the same.

Q11. What will be the minimum requirement of attendance?

At least 75% attendance of the total working days (excluding vacations) for all faculty and students is mandatory. It shall be the responsibility of Head of the Department to check that attendance of the students is as per the requirement for every phase of training including foundation course, theory classes, family adoption program, clinical rounds, practicals and any other requirement as per the mandate.

During vacation period, other than sick leave or leaves availed due to emergency situations, the faculty on duty shall not avail any leave. Emergency leaves shall necessarily be certified by Head of the department or Head of the institution. If the faculty is deputed to other institution for faculty development program or any NMC assessment or any medical education activity, the same requires to be certified by corresponding Head/ authority and the same shall be counted for attendance in his parent institution.

Q12. Cader of Tutors/ Demonstrators is put together and cadre of senior resident doctors is mentioned separately. How do we meet the deficiency of Senior Resident Doctors?

Tutors and S.R.s together shall meet the total number of required persons.

Q.13. Are the PG students considered as S.R. in particular specialty?

PG students are not S.R.s. They shall be junior resident doctors. S.R.s are candidates with PG qualifications of the concerned specialty.

To view the FAQs, click here:

Also Read: NMC Notifies Guidelines for MBBS Course under Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Courses, Increase of Seats, Assessment and Rating Regulations 2023