Rural, Urban Health Training Centre Mandatory for Starting New Medical College: NMC Regulations

New Delhi: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has now made it mandatory for every hospital seeking permission to start a medical college to have rural or urban health centres affiliated to it.

According to the new NMC 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, these health centres shall be used for internship training of MBBS students.

As per the rules, it is mandatory for the MBBS graduates to undergo a mandatory 12 months internship programme in order to become eligible for practicing medicine.

Clarifying that the number of these centres adopted by the college should fulfill the posting of 15 interns, the  new NMC Guidelines stated, "Rural/ Urban Health Training Centre: For every hospital seeking permission to start medical college, the medical college shall have Rural Health Training Centers/Community Health Centers/Urban Health Centers affiliated to it; as per the geographical location of the college, which shall be used for internship training. The number of these centers adopted by the college should fulfil the need of posting 15 interns per center as required in CRMI regulations 2021." 

"These centers shall be owned by the college or it should be affiliated to Government owned Health Center. If it is the latter, the academic control shall be with the Dean/Principal of the college for training of interns in community oriented primary health care and rural based health education for the rural community attached to it," it further added.

The guidelines further specify that these health centres shall be within a distance of 30 km except in X category (Tier-1) cities as amended where it shall be within 50 km.

In case of megacity or Metro cities, there is need to have flexibility of adoption of families in various areas including urban slums, clarified NMC. In case of megacity or Metro cities, there is need to have flexibility of distribution of interns in various OPDs of the teaching hospital like TB clinic, immunization clinic, anti-rabies clinic, which are also important learning outcomes for interns in addition to current CRMI postings, the Commission mentioned in the new Guidelines.

"Separate residential arrangements for boys and girls interns with mess facilities shall also be provided. Adequate transport (both for staff and students) shall be provided for carrying out field work and teaching and training activities by the department of Community Medicine," it further stated.

Regarding the staff requirements, the Guidelines mention, "Staff requirements for RHTC & UHTC keeping in mind NHM population (RHTC – 30000 population & UHTC 50000 population). Medical Officer with MD qualification i.e. Assistant Professor may be made able to provide more quality education to UG CBME, CRMI and PGs in addition to quality care for the rural and urban populations. If a trained PHN is not available, trained staff nurse with community field experience for UHTC and RHTC shall be made available."

NMC, in the guidelines, has further included the details regarding the requirement of manpower including the Assistant Professor in-charge, MO, PHN/trained staff nurse with community field experience, ANM, Medical Social Worker, technician/technical assistant, pharmacist, sanitary inspector, health educator, store keeper in respect of the total intake capacity of MBBS students (50/100/150/200/250).

In respect of the Rural and Urban Health Training Centres, the guidelines further mention the following:

• There should be complete computerization of RHTC and UHTC patient record system.
  
• The distance of RHTC from medical college may need to have some flexibility in case of megacity or Metro cities where immediate rural field practice area may not be feasible.
• In case of megacity or Metro cities, there is need to have flexibility of adoption of families in various areas including urban slums.
• In case of megacity or Metro cities, there is need to have flexibility of distribution of interns in various OPDs of the teaching hospital like TB clinic, immunization clinic, anti-rabies clinic, which are also important learning outcomes for interns in addition to current CRMI postings.
• Since all infrastructural requirements can be easily fulfilled at the start of the college and one time, there is need for a separate museum for Community Medicine. In addition, it will also bring ownership of the dept to develop in own museum and may not be possible in shared museum.
• Every medical college shall have one Rural Health Training Center and Urban Health Training Centre running as like teaching hospital before the first inspection/assessment or first LOP.

To view the NMC guidelines, 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