NO Nod to medical colleges running without ART, MDR TB centres: MCI Gazette

New Delhi: Medical Colleges running without an Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) Centre and a facility for management of MDR-TB will now have a tough time getting recognition as the Medical Council of India has made the two necessaries for running MBBS courses in the country.

Through a recent gazette notification, the Medical Council of India Board of Governors (MCI BOG) has made the two centres mandatory as by including them in the  Minimum Standard Requirement for 50 MBBS Admissions Annually Regulation, 1999. As per the regulation, this has to be done within 5 years of the start of MBBS teaching at medical college, aka, admission of the 1st batch

In particular, the gazette amendment, adds the following clause to the Clause A.1. after sub-clause 23 in the Minimum Standard Requirement for 50 MBBS Admissions Annually Regulation, 1999:

“A.1.24

"Every College should have Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) Centre and facility for management of MDR-TB at the time of 4th renewal for admission of 5th Batch of MBBS students”

With four lakh +new cases TB reported in the country every year, the menace of Tuberculosis is increasing in the country by the day.

TB kills an estimated 480,000 Indians every year and more than 1,400 every day. India also has more than a million ‘missing’ cases every year that are not notified and most remain either undiagnosed or unaccountably and inadequately diagnosed and treated in the private sector.

With lack of awareness and hence followup, most cases of Tuberculosis convert themselves into cases of drug-resistant TB, making all efforts to fight the battle much harder.

The Union Health has set a target elimination fo TB by the year 2025 and is leaving no stone unturned to achieve this goal. With this motive, the rules have been amended to ensure that there is a facility for the management of MDR-TB in every medical college.