70 DNB seats in 6 BMC peripheral hospitals get Centre's approval

Mumbai: Six peripheral hospitals of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have finally secured central government's approval for introducing 70 seats under the Diplomate of National Board (DNB) course.

It is a three-year specialisation course and the "mini colleges" almost had to wait for a year to get the approval to start the course. This will ensure the availability of more specialists in the state as well as improve the quality of healthcare services. 

The initiative to introduce the DNB course in the six facilities was taken by the additional commissioner Suresh Kakani. The six peripheral hospitals which will start the course includes Rajawadi Hospital, Bhabha Hospital in Kurla and Bandra, VN Desai Hospital, Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital, also known as Shatabdi Hospital, in Kandivali, and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital in Govandi, reports The Indian Express. The hospitals will be acting as "mini medical colleges".

The authorities left no stones unturned to get the required accreditation. The National Board of Examinations (NBE) is the governing body responsible for providing accreditation. "Its officials visited the hospitals and made suggestions, which we carried out following which fresh inspections were done. Only after they were satisfied, accreditation was granted, which was a time-consuming affair," an official said.

Dr Vidya Thakur, superintendent of the 16 BMC peripheral hospitals told the daily that after serving the one-year medical bond, every MBBS medico will be eligible to apply for the programme.  

" The students will also treat patients as part of their specialisation course like in any other medical college. So, this course is expected to reduce the number of critical patients referred from a peripheral hospital to a tertiary-care centre for treatment and thereby help patients receive life-saving treatment in time," she added. 

Nearly 150 experienced specialists were hired last year to teach DNB to postgraduate medical students at these hospitals. These specialists included those in medicine, surgery, gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics, anaesthesia, radiology, and ENT, among others. Both senior and junior consultants would receive monthly salaries of Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. 1.50 lakh, respectively. The ability to quickly contact doctors in case of medical emergency and have them attend to patients was one of the requirements for recruiting doctors.

Talking about the process of applying for the accreditation, Dr Vidya further added, " After their (specialists) appointments, we applied to NBE for approval of seats for the DNB course. Now, as we have got recognition, the course would be initiated as per the selection process of NBE through PG-NEET," she added.

Nearly 70% of Mumbai patients who seek treatment in government hospitals are often referred to the BMC's 16 periphery hospitals. However, due to a lack of experts, about 40% of cases are sent to large civic run hospitals including King Edward Memorial, Dr. RN Cooper, BYL Nair, and Sion Hospital.

Introducing the DNB courses in these mini medical colleges would definitely upgrade the healthcare services, however, the scarcity of specialists will only be mend gradually. "For instance, in the first year of the course, I will have two DNB doctors specialising in paediatric to treat patients at these peripheral hospitals. Then next year, I will have two more and gradually, every year, the number of specialists will increase with each new batch," she said.