Maharashtra to add 1,100 DNB Seats to Compensate for loss of CPS courses

New Delhi: With an aim to compensate for the loss of seats belonging to College and Physicians and Surgeons (CPS) courses, the State Medical Education Department in Maharashtra is planning to add 1,100 more seats for Diplomate of National Board (DNB) courses in colleges run by the State government and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

According to sources, a proposal for the same will be brought soon to the State cabinet, adds Hindustan Times. DNB degrees are awarded by the National Board of Examinations (NBE).

This comes after the State derecognised all the courses run by CPS, Mumbai. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in a major setback for the postgraduate medical courses offered by CPS, the State Government of Maharashtra last month derecognised these courses and asked the medical institutes and hospitals not to admit students for any of the 26 diplomas or fellowships offered by CPS, Mumbai.

However, the State clarified that the candidates who have already been admitted to these PG courses before the notification was issued would not be affected by this. The State Government of Maharashtra decided to derecognise the CPS courses when these courses were already facing major controversies. Earlier, referring to significant gaps in the standards or institutes offering CPS courses, the medical education department of Maharashtra had written to the Union Health Ministry asking for its opinion on whether counselling can be conducted for around 1,100 CPS seats.

Also Read: CPS Courses derecognised in Maharashtra

Writing to the Centre, the department referred to the inspection of the Maharashtra Medical Council conducted last year and how during the inspection, MMC had found "severe deficiencies" in several institutes.

After NMC, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) also offered rejection to the CPS courses by refusing to bring them under the aegis of the NBE. This decision was revealed by the NBE officials during a meeting on May 25.

At this outset, when several States were considering reducing the intake for the CPS courses or discontinuing them, the Maharashtra Government derecognised these courses. Loss of CPS courses is a major setback for medical education in Maharashtra as thousands of PG medical seats were lost due to this.

As per the latest media report by Hindustan Times, in order to compensate for the loss of CPS seats, now the State Medical Education Department of Maharashtra is planning to add 1,100 more DNB seats in government-run and BMC-run colleges. 

This comes after Lt General (retired) Dr. Madhuri Kanitkar, Vice-Chancellor of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) conducted a study and submitted her report on how DNB seats can be increased in Maharashtra after the CPS courses got derecognised. 

The Daily adds that among the public hospitals, the peripheral hospitals run by BMC also had CPS courses. Commenting on this, a senior BMC Health official told HT, “Out of the 16 peripheral hospitals, four to five offered CPS courses, including diplomas in orthopaedics, gynaecology and obstetrics, ENT, ophthalmic medicine and surgery. We had started increasing DNB seats after the CPS admission was stopped. We plan to have more DNB seats in our hospitals.”

Also Read: Amidst Turmoil, College of Physicians and Surgeons comes out in defence of its PG medical Courses