NMC amends private practice, attendance norms for medical college faculty, details

New Delhi: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has revised norms on private practice and attendance for faculty in medical colleges in its recently released PGMSR amendment.

The faculty must work full-time and are not allowed to engage in private practice during college working hours. Along with this, the Apex Medical Commission has also made it mandatory for faculty members to maintain at least 75 per cent attendance in a calendar year of the total working days.

These conditions have been specified by the Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of the Commission in the recently released revised Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMSR) 2023. The Commission asked all medical colleges and institutions across the country to comply with the updated rules with immediate effect.

Issuing a public notice on 11.03.2026, the PGMEB informed that the standards for running postgraduate medical courses have now been amended as of February 20, 2026. These norms define the minimum requirements that institutions must meet to start and run PG medical programmes in the country.

The document included the mandatory requirements for a PG medical institute to start a PG medical course, the clinical material/investigation workload required for post-graduate, the ratio of eligible post-graduate faculty to the number of students, the number of minimum and maximum beds in a Unit, the faculty and senior resident requirements for the number of PG seats in different specialities, and the list of functional departments mandatory in a specific medical college etc.

Among several specified conditions, the NMC issued strict guidelines about private practice. The document mentioned that, "Faculty shall be full-time and shall not engage in private practice during college working hours including lunch break or any other breaks."

In the amendment, the Apex Medical Commission has made it exceptional for government doctors. In some states, government rules allow doctors to do private practice. In those cases, government doctors can do private practice only after college working hours, not during duty hours.

The Commission has also laid down clear rules regarding faculty attendance. It has made it mandatory for faculty members to maintain at least 75 percent attendance in a calendar year. For this calculation, the total number of working days in a year has been fixed at 300.

"It shall be mandatory to have at least 75 per cent attendance in a calendar year of the total working days. Total working days will be 300 for calculating 75 percent attendance," mentioned the document. 

In case a faculty member leaves the college midway during the year, the NMC stated that a new faculty member be appointed in their place and the combined attendance of both the old and the new faculty member will be counted together.

To view the PGMSR 2023, click on the link below:

Also read- NMC amends Minimum Standard Requirements for running PG medical courses, here are key takeaways