44.5 percent medical colleges failed to set up mandated PwBD enabling units: NMC files affidavit in Supreme Court
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New Delhi: Despite the National Medical Commission's directions, around 44.5 percent of the medical colleges across India have failed to set up Enabling Units for students with benchmark disabilities, the Commission stated in an affidavit before the Supreme Court.
According to the NMC affidavit, which was filed before the Apex Court on Tuesday, out of 798 colleges, 355 medical colleges remain non-compliant, and several institutes named sanitation inspectors, residents, tutors, and head clerks as single points of contact, TOI has reported.
The Apex Medical Commission submitted the affidavit in compliance with the Supreme Court's directive on August 4, 2026, in the case of Anmol vs Union of India. The top court bench had directed the NMC to seek college-wise compliance with its July 27 circular through Deans and Principals.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that, complying with the Supreme Court's directive and with the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, particularly Sections 16 and 17, the National Medical Commission (NMC) on July 27, 2026, directed all medical colleges and institutions under its jurisdiction to set up Enabling Units for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD).
Also Read: NMC directs medical colleges to set up enabling units for PwBD students
NMC stated that every medical college must establish an Enabling Unit that will serve as the single point of contact for students with benchmark disabilities. The Commission had expressed that these Enabling Units would help students access reasonable accommodation, academic and clinical support, and barrier-free facilities within the institution. Further, they would also receive and address requests related to disability-specific accommodations during the course of study, including clinical training and internship.
Despite such a directive, nearly half the medical colleges are yet to fulfil this requirement, according to the affidavit submitted by NMC before the Supreme Court. Sanitation inspectors, residents, tutors, and head clerks have reportedly been assigned as single points of contact in some of the institutes.
According to a TOI report, at a Government Medical College, Nandurbar, a sanitation inspector has been designated as the coordinator of the Enabling Unit, while other colleges have named residents, tutors, and head clerks as points of contact.
The NMC circular does not prescribe a doctor or clinical faculty member as the single point of contact, NMC assigned the Enabling Units the responsibility to ensure reasonable accommodation, academic and clinical support, barrier-free access, coordination, record-keeping and information dissemination.
Commenting on the matter, Dr. Satendra Singh, Professor of the Department of Physiology, University College of Medical Sciences, Guru Teg Bahadur (UCMS-GTB) Hospital and founder of Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change, told TOI, "It’s unheard of for a sanitation inspector or head clerk to be made in-charge of such a committee in a medical college. They have neither the designated administrative or academic responsibility for undergraduate or postgraduate training nor the training or authority to deal with disability accommodation, clinical training, patient safety or assessment."
"They cannot take or escalate decisions on postings, duty hours, assistive devices, accessible infrastructure, examination accommodations or clinical-rotation modifications. Tutors and residents are also a floating population, often at an institution for only a limited period. How would a postgraduate student in pharmacology, who may not even be an alumnus of that institution, know what assistance a wheelchair-using medical student needs in an operation theatre or have the authority to direct the theatre staff?" he added.
