NBE nod to 12 more DNB Seats in JnK GMCs, district hospitals

Srinagar: Bringing good news to the postgraduate medical aspirants in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Science (NBEMS) has given its nod for 12 Diplomate of National Board (DNB) seats at the government institutes across the Union Territory (UT).

Among these 12 new DNB seats, permission has been given to Srinagar Hospital for 2 seats in Orthopedics, GMC Rajouri has received permission for 2 seats in Paediatrics, 2 seats in Surgery have been added to DH Poonch and 2 seats in General Medicine have been approved for DH Reasi.

Apart from these, NBEMS has given accreditation to the Department of Anesthesiology GMC Baramulla for starting DNB courses with an intake of 4 Postgraduate, 2 Primary DNB, and 2 Secondary DNB seats every year.

Issuing a Statement, an official spokesman mentioned it to be a significant step towards strengthening the public healthcare scenario in the UT. Meanwhile, the Secretary of State Health and Medical Education (H&ME) Department, Bhupinder Kumar congratulated the entire H&ME Department for this achievement.

He also expressed happiness over the fact that even remote facilities like District Hospital Poonch and District Hospital Reasi have received NBE nod for commencing postgraduate courses in these hospitals.

Also Read: NBE sanctions 20 more DNB seats in JnK GMCs, district hospitals

As per the latest media report by Greater Kashmir, while providing details regarding the development, the Mission Director of National Health Mission (NHM) J&K, Ayushi Sudan mentioned that implementing DNB courses at the district level in the Union Territory had been termed as a best practice in the country.

“Under the DNB programme in J&K, a total of 270 seats were granted to the accredited departments during session 2022 and start of 2023 consequent to the concerted efforts and hard work of the administrative department H&ME J&K, NHM J&K and the team of health institutions being monitored by Secretary H&ME,” Sudan mentioned.

“All the efforts are being made to scale up the DNB courses in all the district hospitals and potential Community Health Centres (CHCs) of J&K. During the upcoming session, J&K is planning to submit more than 30 applications in all district Hospitals," she further mentioned.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that under the DNB programme, a total of 250 seats were granted to the accredited departments during session 2022 consequent to the concerted efforts of the departments concerned.

Back in March 2023, NBEMS sanctioned 20 more DNB seats in government medical colleges and district hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir for this academic session. As per official data, GMC Srinagar received approval for two seats in FNB paediatric anesthesia and Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Hospital, Srinagar three post-MBBS DNB seats in general surgery.

Apart from these, District Hospital (DH) Udhampur received sanction for five seats under pediatrics, general medicine and orthopedics, DH Poonch received two seats in general medicine and DH Ganderbal got sanction for two seats each in DNB general medicine and diploma pediatrics. Further, DH Kulgam received two seats in family medicine while Community Health Centre, Kupwara got two seats in diploma pediatrics.

Now, another 12 DNB seats have been added to the Union Territory and these seats would be added to the previously granted 270 DNB seats. DNB courses have been introduced in the district hospitals and the new GMCs besides the old GMCs and SKIMS for strengthening the institutes, decongest GMCs and to deal with the shortage of specialists in the UT.

Also Read: Centre grants 265 DNB seats to JnK Govt Hospitals