Patna Medical College Hospital Gets NBE Nod for DrNB Neurology, Nephrology courses

Patna: Bringing good news to the postgraduate medical aspirants in the State, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has given its nod to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) to commence super-specialty courses in nephrology and neurology.

Confirming this, the Principal of the medical college Dr. Vidyapati Chaudhary told HT, "Our neurology and nephrology departments got the permission on August 30 to begin superspecialty course (DrNB) with three and two seats, respectively, annually. These courses will commence from next year."

With the NBEMS nod, PMCH has become one of the first fully State-run medical colleges in Bihar to get approval to run super speciality courses i.e. DrNB courses in any discipline. At present, the college offers superspeciality programmes in neurosurgery and plastic surgery.

Previously, before 2019, the college had tried to start medical superspeciality course by applying before the National Medical Commission (NMC), erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI). However, back then, it did not get approval from the Apex Medical Body due to inadequate manpower requirement.

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Commenting on this, Principal Dr. Choudhary told Hindustan Times, "We had applied last September to the National Board of Examination (NBE) for permission to begin superspecialty programme in neurology and nephrology, and got a confirmation recently."

"The main reason why we did not reapply for DM course last year was because the NMC stipulates to have a minimum of one professor, an associate professor, an assistant professor and one senior resident doctor in the department concerned, applying for DM course. We did not have a structured hierarchy then at the time of applying for grant of permission to begin superspecialty course last year," an associate professor at the department of nephrology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan told HT.

"The NBE, on the other hand, requires five years post-DM experience to become a senior consultant to teach students in a superspecialty programme," he mentioned, adding that "Both, Dr Gopal Prasad, professor and head of nephrology department, PMCH, and I fulfill the criteria of a senior consultant. So, the NBE has allowed us two seats annually."

However, HT has reported that the nephrology department of PMCH still does not have a senior resident. Meanwhile at the Neurology Department of PMCH, Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Dr. Gunjan Kumar and Dr. Munish Kumar, all associate professors, have more than five years of post-DM experience. 

A functionary confirmed on the condition on anonymity that NBE has given its approval for three seats here. However, the department does not have a professor.

"Unless we introduce superspecialty courses in our medical colleges, we will not be able to produce qualified doctors to run our superspecialty departments," Dr. Harsh Vardhan added in this regard.

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