NBE invites applications from institutes seeking Accreditation for DNB, DrNB, FNB Courses January-February 2025, Check all details

New Delhi- The National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has invited applications from Hospitals/Medical Institutions/Medical Colleges for accreditation to DNB/DrNB/FNB courses (January / February 2025 Cycle). In this regard, NBE has issued a notification detailing the courses, important dates and application process.

National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) accredits hospitals /institutions for running various Broad & Super Specialty courses and Fellowship courses.

The following applications are invited from Hospitals/Medical Institutions/Medical Colleges for obtaining accreditation in DNB, DrNB and FNB courses: 

NBEMS has also introduced a Joint Accreditation Programme for Broad Specialty (DNB) courses.

The application forms have to be submitted in online mode through Online Accreditation Application Portal (OAAP) which can be accessed through NBEMS website . After submission of online applications, duly signed and stamped hard copy of applications are to be submitted to NBEMS within the prescribed time period.

 It is further informed that:

o The Information Bulletin must be perused thoroughly before applying for accreditation.

o The applicant hospitals / medical institutions must ensure that the application being submitted has complete & correct information.

o Incomplete and/or incorrect information may cause unnecessary delay in processing of application or may lead to rejection of application.

Applying for NBEMS Accreditation

National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) accredits hospitals/institutions for running DNB/DrNB courses in various Broad & Super Specialty and Fellowship courses.

The grant of accreditation is solely at the discretion of NBEMS and subject to fulfilment of criteria prescribed by NBEMS.

The hospitals running two years Diploma courses in any of the eight specialties can also apply for DNB/DrNB courses with the same infrastructure. However, the faculty which has been considered for the Diploma course will not be considered for the DNB/DrNB i.e. the applicant hospital shall be required to have separate faculty for the DNB/DrNB courses.

Mere online registration of applicant hospital/ online application submission payment of accreditation fee/ submission of hard copy of application to NBEMS/ fulfilment of NBEMS accreditation criteria does not render an applicant hospital/institute eligible for grant of accreditation or imply that NBEMS must accredit the applicant hospital/institute.

NBEMS reserves its absolute rights to alter/modify/delete/amend any or all of the criteria as given in this information bulletin at any stage during the process.

Applicant hospitals/institutes shall have no rights or equity in their favor merely because they have submitted their application seeking accreditation with NBEMS.

Applicant hospitals/institutes are required to study the Information Bulletin and instructions for fulfilment of eligibility criteria before submitting the application form.

Instructions in this Information Bulletin are liable to be changed on the decisions taken by NBEMS from time to time. Please refer to the NBEMS website www.natboard.edu.in for updates.

The existing schedule, pattern, policy and guidelines for accreditation are for ready reference only but are not to be treated for the fact that the NBEMS is bound to follow the same in future. In case of any ambiguity in interpretation of any of the instructions/terms / rules / criteria regarding the determination of eligibility / grant of accreditation/any of the information contained in the information bulletin the interpretation of NBEMS shall be final and binding on all parties. NBEMS reserves its rights to relax any of the criteria/clause if so deemed appropriate in case of grant of renewal/ fresh accreditation.

Submission of false information or fabricated records for the purpose of seeking accreditation may lead to disqualification for accreditation and debarment from seeking accreditation in future as well.

Applications of applicant hospitals/institutes seeking accreditation with NBEMS which do not fulfil the prescribed minimum accreditation criteria may be summarily rejected by NBEMS at Pre - Assessment stage i.e. before undertaking physical inspection of the hospital by NBEMS appointed assessor.

The grant of accreditation by NBEMS is purely provisional and is governed by the terms and conditions as stated in the accreditation agreement. A copy of the same will be sent across to the applicant hospitals/institutes after it has been accredited by NBEMS.

Applicant hospital/institute may kindly note that the use of any agent or agency or any party who is not an employee or office bearer of the applicant hospital/institute for the purpose of preparing, drafting, submitting and/or representing the applicant hospital/institute is strictly prohibited. In the event of such an instance been brought to the notice of NBEMS, NBEMS reserves its absolute right to summarily reject the application besides further action as may be deemed appropriate including but not limited to debarment from filing application seeking accreditation in future.

Statements made by the applicant hospital shall be certified by the Head of the Institute at appropriate place and the claims made in the application shall be supported by relevant document(s).

Applications submitted by the hospital/institute which are incomplete are likely to be rejected.

The applicant hospitals are required to provide correct, updated and factual information at the time of submission of application form. Additional information is required to be furnished by the applicant hospitals whenever sought by NBEMS or if there are changes in the faculty or infrastructure of the applicant hospitals pursuant to the submission of application form.

.Request for change in specialty/clubbing of applications will not be considered under any circumstances.

The application form has to be submitted as per the guidelines contained in the Information Bulletin and Online Accreditation Application Portal.

Parallel programme (in affiliation with other universities/organizations) of similar nature with duration of 2 – 3 years (or more), shall not be allowed in the same department along with DNB/ DrNB/ FNB courses. Hospitals which administer such parallel programme shall be required to discontinue with the parallel programme after introduction of DNB/ DrNB/ FNB courses in the department over a period of 01 year. If the concerned hospital/institute fails to do so, the respective DNB/ DrNB/ FNB courses shall be discontinued.

All NBEMS accredited departments are permitted a maximum window of 01 year to discontinue with their parallel programme, if any.

The jurisdiction for any dispute shall be at New Delhi only.

Online Accreditation Application Portal (OAAP)

Applicant hospitals/institutes shall be required to submit the application form online through Online Accreditation Application Portal (OAAP) as per the steps indicated below.

* Hospital/Institute which has already created a user & profile on OAAP in the past is not required to create another user/profile.

Application Compilation & Submission

The application form has two parts:

Main Application Form: This part of application comprises of information which is common/applicable to all specialties. The main application forms need to be completed and submitted online only once in an application session.

Specialty Specific Application Form : This part of the application comprises of specialty specific information and the online forms are unique for each specialty in which accreditation is being sought.

On successful online submission of application forms, the hospital shall be able to take print out of the application forms and the annexures/Documents that have been uploaded.

The applicant hospital shall be required to submit the duly signed & stamped hard copy print-outs of the both Main & the specialty specific application form along with the necessary annexures//Documents, covering letter and the payment receipt.

The hard copy of the application form should reach NBEMS office at the following address latest by 16-06-2025. Applications received thereafter shall not be considered. 

To,

Accreditation Department

National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences,

Medical Enclave,

Ansari Nagar, New Delhi -110029

The application forms should be spirally bound. Main and each Specialty Specific Application Forms with relevant enclosures/documents should be spirally bound separately. Applications submitted as loose papers/ without being bound spirally shall be returned to the applicant hospital/institute without processing. Main and Specialty specific forms should not be bound together. 

The hospital shall be required to submit definite compliance to deficiencies pointed out to the hospital/institute by NBEMS. Please be apprised that fulfilment of minimum accreditation requirements is a pre-requisite for grant of accreditation and cannot be fulfilled post-facto.

Through Online Accreditation Application Portal (OAAP), the hospital/institute can access the following:

 Notices & Circulars issued by NBEMS

 Information Bulletin

 Submission of Application Forms

 Status of Application Forms

 Submission of Application form for mid cycle review

 Accredited seats

 Approved faculty for the Accredited Specialty

 Addition/Change the SPOC/HOD/DNB coordinator

 Submit consent for Seat Matrix for the purpose of counseling

 Download Accreditation related Annexures/Documents

 Update Hospital Profile

 View Grievance Committee Details

 Change Password 

Information submitted under various parameters (such as number of operational beds, single or multi-specialty, management type, Date of starting clinical operations etc.) shall be updated in NBEMS records only if it is supported with authenticated documents submitted along with the application.

Accreditation Fee

Applicant hospital/institute seeking fresh accreditation or renewal of accreditation in any specialty are required to pay an accreditation fee of Rs. 2,00,000/- Plus GST @ 18% for each specialty specific application. The application form fee for each specialty specific application is Rs. 3,000/- Plus GST @ 5%.

The total fee to be paid for each specialty specific application is as follows:

*Defense Institutions are exempted from submitting accreditation fee of Rs. 2,00,000/-.

However, the application form fee of Rs. 3,000/- + GST @ 5% shall be required to be paid.

Applicant hospital/institute shall be able to pay the above-mentioned fee only through Online Payment Portal of NBEMS. Payment made through any other portal shall not be accepted.

The application form shall only be considered as successfully submitted only if the accreditation fee has been paid successfully to NBEMS. NBEMS shall not be responsible for any transaction failure or delay in processing of the transaction.

In case of applying for more than one specialty, the accreditation fee for each application form has to be paid separately.

Partial refund of Accreditation Fee is admissible under the following conditions:

* Application form fee of Rs. 3,000/- + GST @ 5% (i.e. a total of Rs. 3150/-) is nonrefundable under any circumstances.

# GST paid by the hospital shall be refunded proportionately.

For Example:

The accreditation fee will not be carried forward to a future date and/or for another application.

Application form submitted to NBEMS without payment of accreditation fee including GST shall not be processed.

Grossly incomplete applications or applications not fulfilling the minimum accreditation criteia shall be closed at Pre-assessment level i.e. without undertaking any physical assessment/ inspection of the hospital.

Compliance submission to Pre - Assessment Deficiencies: The applicant hospital shall be given an opportunity to submit compliance to the deficiencies noted in the pre assessment processing of the application form. The hospital shall be able to upload the required documents/compliance through OAAP or at accr@natboard.edu.in OR at any other email ID indicated to the hospital/institute by the Accreditation Department of NBEMS.

Assessment of the applicant hospital: NBEMS shall be appointing an independent assessor to undertake the physical assessment/inspection of the hospital with regards to infrastructure, facilities, faculty, patient load and other related information. The assessment schedule will be intimated to the applicant hospital 2 weeks in advance. The exact date of the physical assessment along with the details of NBEMS appointed assessor shall be informed to the hospital 1-2 days prior to the date of assessment/Inspection.

Application form and the documents submitted by the hospital along with the assessment report of NBEMS appointed assessor shall be placed before the NBEMS Accreditation Committee

The decision of the Accreditation Committee shall be communicated to the hospital after it is approved by Governing Body, NBEMS.

It usually takes 6-9 months for completing the processing of application form (from the date of receipt of the hard copy of the application form at NBEMS till approval from the Governing Body, NBEMS and communication to the applicant hospital).

The accreditation, if granted by NBEMS, is purely provisional and is valid for a period of up to five years. Once the accreditation is granted to the applicant hospital in any specialty, the hospital will be required to sign an Accreditation Agreement which containsthe various terms & conditions applicable to the accredited hospital. A copy of Sample Accreditation Agreement can be seen at Annexure I. The applicant hospital may note that the grant of accreditation is purely provisional and non-compliance of the Accreditation Agreement shall lead to withdrawal of accreditation by NBEMS.

Mid Cycle Review of Accreditation:

 The grant of accreditation by NBEMS to a department for a DNB/DrNB/FNB programme is purely provisional and is governed by the terms and conditions as stated in the Accreditation Agreement and compliance to the same as verified in mid cycle review of the department.

• NBEMS shall undertake a mid-cycle review of the accredited department in the 3rd year of the accreditation cycle, to ensure that the hospital is complying with the terms & conditions of the Accreditation Agreement and is fulfilling the minimum NBEMS  accreditation criteria. Further details regarding mid cycle review shall be informed to hospital through Public notice and emails The accredited DNB/DrNB/FNB seat of a department may be excluded from the counseling seat matrix if the hospital fails to successfully complete the mid cycle review of the concerned specialty.

NBEMS has introduced Post MBBS 02 years Diploma (NBEMS) courses in the following nine Broad specialties:

The Information Bulletin for the Diploma courses can be seen at NBEMS website Applications not fulfilling the accreditation criteria for the DNB courses may be considered by NBEMS for the Diploma courses (subject to consent from the concerned hospital), if found suitable in terms of minimum accreditation criteria for the Diploma courses.

Joint Accreditation Programme:

National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) accredits hospitals/institutions for running DNB/DrNB/FNB/Diploma courses in various Broad & Super Specialty and Fellowship courses. Accreditation Department invites applications for fresh/renewal accreditation twice a year in January/February and July/August.

Many hospitals fail to receive NBEMS Accreditation despite having good facilities and the infrastructure to offer PG training because they fall short of meeting a few of the minimum accreditation criteria specified by the NBEMS. To utilize the available resources of hospitals and to provide them with an opportunity to give PG training, a scheme for Joint Accreditation of the hospitals has been approved by the NBEMS. 

Objectives of the Joint Accreditation:

i. Resource Utilization

ii. Case load and Case Mix Distribution

iii. Upscale the quality of training programme

iv. Financial Sharing

Applicability: The concept of Joint Accreditation shall only be limited to BroadSpecialties (DNB Courses).

Which hospitals can join:

Four types of different institutions can collaborate for Joint Accreditation:

i. Govt. Hospital to Govt. Hospital

ii. Private to Govt. Hospital

iii. Private to Private Hospital

iv. Standalone Imaging/Diagnostic Lab Centres along with a Hospital

Which Institution cannot participate:

The institutions which are already running the NMC courses.

Key points –

Hospital Infrastructure for Joint Accreditation

i. Location of the Hospitals:

 Both the hospitals participating in the Joint Accreditation Programme will be located within 100 km range or within an adjacent city of each other. They will apply jointly and will jointly complement each other’s deficit in the training requirements.

 For the functional purpose, it will be single programme but for the Administration purpose, one institute will be known as Primary Institute and the other smaller institute will be considered as Secondary Institute

ii. Bed strength, case load and faculty requirement:

 For Joint Accreditation, each of the two participating hospitals should have a minimum 90 beds i.e. hospitals with less than 90 beds will not be considered for the purpose of joint accreditation.

 The case load and faculties of both the participating hospitals will be clubbed together and the participating hospitals will have to fulfil the Minimum Accreditation Criteria of NBEMS in terms of case load, case mix and faculty etc.

 There should be at least one Senior Consultant OR one Junior Consultant in both the participating hospitals.

 The minimum accreditation criteria for Joint Accreditation i.e. Bed Strength, full time faculty, Case Load, Institutional Ethics Committee and others shall be same as indicated in the Accreditation Information Bulletin 

iii. The number of Joint Accreditation the hospitals can have is tabulated below.

Stipend:

 Stipend will be shared by both the institutions i.e., if the trainee is in institution A, the stipend will be paid by institution A. Similarly, if the trainee is in institution B, the stipend will be paid by the institution B.

Monitoring of the programme

 There shall be a single Joint Academic Committee from both the participating hospitals. This committee will be responsible for imparting training, adequate rotation and monitoring of the training of the candidate. The Joint Academic Committee shall comprise of:

 Composition of Joint Academic Committee: The composition of Joint Academic Committee for Monitoring the training of the candidates is as under:

 Head of the Primary Institute

 Head of the Secondary Institute

 Single Point of Contact of Primary Institute

 Single Point of Contact of Secondary Institute

 Nodal Officer/DNB Coordinator for the DNB Course

 Further, there would be a Nodal officer who would coordinate with NBEMS for issues pertaining to accreditation and training of the trainees.

 A grievance redressal cell should be made comprising equal number of membersfrom both the organizations.

 Composition of Grievance Redressal Cell: The composition of Grievance Redressal Cell for Redressal of the grievances of the candidates proposed is as under:

o Head of the Primary Institute – Chairman

o Head of the Secondary Institute

o In-house, Senior Consultant, Medical Specialty

o In-house, Senior Consultant, Surgical Specialty

o Nodal Officer/DNB Coordinator for the Joint Accreditation Programme.

o Representative of DNB Candidates of the hospital

o External Medical Expert of the Rank of Professor of a Govt. Medical College

 The grievances arising out of the Joint Accreditation Programme will be primarily resolved by the Joint Academic Committee of the participating hospitals and the grievance redressal cell.

 If the main accredited institute i.e. the primary institute fails to continue the Joint Accreditation Programme, then all the residents shall be relocated as per the guidelines of NBEMS. In case of failure of the secondary institute to continue the programme, the primary accredited institute will ensure completion of training of the existing trainees and no further trainees will be inducted in the programme till the new collaborator is identified.

 The liability will be held by both the participating institution and there will be mandatory tripartite legal agreement to be signed by both the institution as well as NBEMS.

 Department / Specialty already accredited with NBEMS cannot participate in Joint Accreditation programme.

Physical Assessment / Inspection:

Inspection of both the hospitals applying for Joint Accreditation shall be conducted. The same assessor will carry out inspection of both the hospitals on the same day.

Minimum Accreditation Criteria for Standalone Diagnostic Centres and Labs:

 The existing minimum accreditation criteria for DNB Radio diagnosis and DNB Pathology should be applicable for standalone centres.

 The hospital with which the standalone Pathology lab or standalone diagnostic centre would be attached should be recognized for DNB Pathology and DNB Radio Diagnosis respectively.

 Rotational Posting of the trainee to the hospital should be for 03 months per year i.e. 09 months in the entire duration of 03 years of programme.

 The stipend during the rotational posting shall be borne by the standalone centre.

 There should be at least 02 fulltime faculty members in standalone centre.