Now, according to advisory signed under the authority of the NMC Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) President Dr M.K. Ramesh, the relief relates to the extension of submission deadlines, relaxation of requirement of submission of poster presentation, as well as the sample size used for the purpose of the thesis.

The recent announcement comes in view of the several requests received by the apex medical regulator regarding submission of Postgraduate thesis of students for the batches admitted during academic years 2018-19, 2019-20 or those admitted in 2020-21 after Diploma for 02-year Postgraduate course and/or writing examinations in 2021 or 2022.

The Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of the National Medical Commission after having carefully considered all the requests, the current COVID-I9 pandemic situation and the training requirements of the postgraduate degree students, has decided as under:-

The sub-clause 14(4)(a) of the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations with regard to the submission of the Postgraduate thesis states as follows:

"Thesis shall be submitted at least six month before the Theory and Clinical/Practical examination".

In view of the COVID-I 9 pandemic, the PGMEB has decided to relax the said portion of the regulation and allow the Postgraduate degree students of batches 2018-19 and 2019-20, to submit their thesis at least three months before the Theory and Clinical/Practical examination.

Further sub-clause 13.9 of the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations states as follows:-

"A postgraduate student of a Postgraduate degree in broad specialities/super specialities would be required to present one poster presentation, to read one paper at a national/state conference and to present one research paper which should be published/accepted for publication/sent for publication during the period of his postgraduate studies so as to make him eligible to appear at the Postgraduate degree examination."

In view of COVID-19 pandemic, the PGMEB has decided to relax this part of the regulation and allow the Postgraduate students of batches 2018-19 only, in broad specialities/super specialities to be eligible to appear for their postgraduate degree examinations even if they have not made a poster presentation, read a paper at a conference or submitted a research paper for publication.

Moreover, in view of the dearth of clinical material during the current COVID-I9 pandemic, the Universities and Medical Colleges/institutions are also advised by the NMC:

While evaluating the thesis submitted for acceptance for the batches 2018-19 and 2019-20, the final sample size actually analyzed may be considered even if it is less than the committed sample size in the approved thesis protocol for the study.

The official notification by NMC is attached below: