Guide NMC to consider proposal for MD Diabetology, Nutrition and Metabolism at Madras Medical College: TN Health Minister urges Mansukh Mandaviya

Chennai: Writing to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian has requested him to "guide" the National Medical Commission (NMC) in considering the State Government's proposal for commencing an MD course in Diabetology, Nutrition and Metabolism at Madras Medical College (MMC).

In the recent letter dated May 4, Health Minister Subramanian has also urged Union Minister Mandaviya for issuing necessary orders to that the course commences in the coming academic year.

The letter also referred to the fact that earlier Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University had sent a proposal to NMC for including speciality of 'Diabetology, Nutrition and Metabolism' in the first schedule of Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000.

Apart from this, the State Health Minister had urged NMC for considering the proposal favourably and allow the university to commence the course.

Not only NMC, Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in a bid to better diagnose and control health issues such as diabetes mellitus, the Tamil Nadu Medical Government had also urged the Central Government to give permission for commencing the MD course.

Also Read: TN Seeks Centre's help for Starting New MD course in Diabetology, Nutrition and Metabolism

This proposal of the State Government had also expressed the possibility of converting the already existing diploma in Diabetology seats to degree seats. In this regard, earlier Ma Subramanian had written to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and pointed out how the chronic metabolic disorder mellitus is immensely contributing to the health expenditure of both the Government and an individual. Mr. Subramanian had opined that the move would lead for creation of diabetes care unit in all the district hospitals in Tamil Nadu.

As per the latest media report by The Hindu, responding to the letter by Tamil Nadu Government, NMC mentioned on February 23, 2022 that permission had not been granted for the request as this would downgrade the existing courses. Consequently, the State Health Department filed an appeal to the NMC Secretary.

Now, the Health Minister has requested the Union Minister to guide the NMC in considering the proposal favourably to enable the university for commencing the course in the coming academic year as per section 28(5) of the NMC Guidelines for dealing with appeals preferred to the Central Government under NMC Act, 2019.

Referring to the fact that the prevalence of diabetes was about 10.4% in Tamil Nadu, the Minister mentioned in the letter, “In the past few years, both our State and Central governments have been focusing on detection and early treatment of non communicable diseases like diabetes in their health policies. Hence, starting an MD (Diabetology, Nutrition and Metabolism) course will increase the number of professional healthcare providers available in this speciality in the country.”

He further mentioned that Tamil Nadu was the first state in the country to launch the course approved by the Medical Council of India. The creation of new MD (Diabetology, Nutrition, and Metabolism) course would help in the conversion of the already existing MCI recognized diploma in Diabetology seats in to degree seats helping in creation of more number of teaching faculties, he said.

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