What is the minimum accreditation criteria for Post MBBS Diploma courses by NBE? Check out details

New Delhi- The National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has invited applications from Hospitals/Medical Institutions/Medical Colleges for accreditation to Post MBBS Diploma courses (January / February 2025 Cycle). In this regard, NBE has issued a notification detailing the Minimum Accreditation Criteria.

NBEMS administers Post MBBS two-year Diploma courses in the 9 Broad specialties Anesthesiology, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Family Medicine, Ophthalmology, Otorhinolaryngology (ENT), Radio Diagnosis, Tuberculosis & Chest Disease and Emergency Medicine.

IMPORTANT DATES

Minimum Accreditation Criteria

(I). The Applicant Hospital Clinical establishment:

The applicant Hospital/Institute should be a clinical establishment having requisite infrastructure of minimum prescribed beds providing comprehensive OPD and IPD based medical services in a single campus. Any clubbing of infrastructure, facilities and faculty of multiple hospitals/units of the applicant hospital is not permitted for seeking accreditation in the name of the applicant hospital.

The applicant hospital should have a minimum of 02 years of standing in clinical establishment before it can be considered for commencement of NBEMS Diploma courses. However, the hospital can apply for seeking accreditation with NBEMS after completing 01 year in clinical operations. Years in clinical operation should be substantiated with supportive documents such as certificate of registration of the applicant hospital under applicable acts & rules. Failure to substantiate the minimum required period in clinical operations (i.e. at least 01 year by the last date of application submission) with supportive documents shall invite closure of the application.

Mandatory regulatory / licensing approvals and all statutory requirements / clearances should have been obtained from appropriate administrative authorities / State Government / Central Government / Pollution Control Board Certificate / Municipal corporations and various councils. It shall be the responsibility of the hospital to obtain the necessary clearances and NBEMS shall not be responsible if the hospital fails to obtain or comply any required mandatory certifications such as, but not limited to:

 Certificate of Registration of the hospital under applicable Acts and Rules*

 Pollution Control Board Certificate issued by State Government for Biomedical waste Management*

 Valid Fire Safety Certificate from State Fire Department  Building Complex Occupancy Certificate

 Certificate of Incorporation of Parent Company/ Certificate of Registrar of Society (if applicable)

 AERB approval for operations of Medical Diagnostic Equipments (X-rays, CT Scan, MRI, PET Scan, Linear Accelerator etc.)

 Certificate issued by State Government to the agency which is authorised for Bio-Medical waste management of the applicant hospital

 Other regulatory approvals which may be specific to the specialty applied for seeking accreditation

Bed strength of the applicant hospital

Hospitals having a minimum of 100 operational beds are eligible to seek accreditation with NBEMS for Diploma courses.However, hospitals which are exclusive centres for Ophthalmology should have minimum of 10 operational beds for being considered for accreditation for Diploma course in Ophthalmology.

The total number of operational beds in the hospital (as claimed to be authorized for commissioning) has to be certified with supportive documents such as “Consent to Operate” authorization from State Pollution Control Board (SPCB).

The consent to operate for claimed total beds should have been granted by SPCB before the last date of application submission. Applications submitted to SPCB for seeking consent for expansion of beds or consent granted by SPCB for expansion shall not be considered in lieu of consent to operate certificate issued by SPCB. Failure to substantiate the claimed number of total operational beds in the hospital with supportive documents shall invite closure of the application.

Requirements in applicant departments

Beds in the applicant department/specialty of the hospital:

While the applicant hospital should be having at least 100 operational beds (except for Diploma in Ophthalmology), the requirement of beds in the specialty/department for each of the nine NBEMS diploma courses is tabulated below:

Beds & other Infrastructural requirement for NBEMS Diploma courses

Faculty in the applicant department/specialty

The applicant hospital should have minimum required faculty in each applicant department.

The applicant department should have 01 Senior Consultant or 02 Junior Consultants for being considered eligible for Diploma courses.

• Sr. Consultant: Should have a minimum of 5 years of experience after qualifying MD / MS/ DNB or equivalent in the specialty concerned.

• Jr. Consultant: Should have a minimum of 2 years of experience after qualifying MD/ MS/ DNB or equivalent in the specialty concerned.

• The qualification in the specialty should be a recognized qualification as per the provisions of IMC/NMC Act.

The minimum eligible qualifications & experience to qualify as Senior or Junior consultants for different NBEMS Diploma courses is tabulated as below:

All the applicant hospital/Institute for Family Medicine Diploma course shall have at-least one faculty each in General Medicine, General Surgery, Paediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Faculty with MD/DNB –Family Medicine may replace one of the faculty of General Medicine or Paediatrics.

Faculty counted for the purpose of accreditation in Family Medicine, shall also be counted for as faculty for accreditation in their respective specialties also. Overlapping of faculty is allowed for Family Medicine Diploma courses. For eg: The faculty counted for the purpose of Paediatrics Diploma course shall also be eligible as faculty for Family Medicine Diploma Course.

Proposed faculty in the applicant department shall be required to submit a declaration form in the prescribed format while submitting application to NBEMS. The duly filleddeclaration form has to be uploaded at the time of online submission of the application form.

The applicant hospital shall be required to verify the correctness and veracity of each content of faculty declaration forms and endorse the same as true and correct. The applicant hospital shall be equally responsible besides the faculty himself/herself for any misdeclaration or misstatement, in the event of declaration turning out to be either incorrect or any part of this declaration subsequently turning out be incorrect or false.

Full time status of Faculty: As per NBEMS criteria, the applicant hospital shall be the principal place of working of the consultant who is proposed as faculty for the programme. Faculty should declare to work ‘full time’ in the applicant hospital and the same has to be confirmed in the faculty declaration form.

Part time and visiting consultant shall not be considered as a faculty for Diploma courses and shall not be counted towards minimum required faculty for the purpose of accreditation of the applicant department.

A) NBEMS shall verify the full-time status of faculty in the hospital concerned through a set of documents including but not limited to, declaration form of the faculty, Form16/16A, Form-26AS, Salary/Bank statements, HIS data, Agreements & affidavits or any other document as deemed fit by NBEMS.

B) Documents to be submitted: The following documents have to be submitted by the applicant hospital in support of the proposed faculty being working full-time at the applicant hospital:

i. Form-16/16A of the proposed faculty downloaded from TRACES website or provided by the employer – Mandatory to be submitted

ii. Form-26AS of the proposed faculty downloaded from TRACES website – Optional

iii. Bipartite Agreement and affidavits – In case the proposed faculty is not willing to submit Form-26AS, the applicant hospital will be required to submit to NBEMS a Bipartite Agreement and affidavits as a proof of working of the proposed faculty on full-time basis in the applicant hospital. A separate Bipartite Agreement and affidavits have to be submitted for each proposed faculty. The Bipartite Agreement and the affidavits can be seen at https://accr.natboard.edu.in/ under the link Downloads. Click here to view the Bipartite Agreement and affidavits

iv. Tripartite Agreement and affidavits - In case of the applicant hospital having faculty members who are getting their Form-16/16A from parent office of the applicant hospital/ outsourcing agency (engaged by the applicant hospital), the applicant hospital will be required to submit to NBEMS a Tripartite Agreement and affidavits as a proof of working of the proposed faculty on full-time basis in the applicant hospital.

Such faculty members are not required to submit the Bipartite Agreement and affidavits.

a. For faculty working in the applicant hospital on outsourcing basis

b. For faculty whose Form-16 is generated by the parent office, the address of parent office being different from the address of the applicant hospital Faculty will not be considered for the purpose of accreditation in case the above documents are not submitted by the applicant hospital to NBEMS.

Changes in Faculty Status: The applicant department once accredited with NBEMS is required to maintain the minimum required faculty position at all times. However, under extreme circumstances if the Faculty present at the time of accreditation is to be replaced, the same has to be carried out within 3 months, under intimation to the NBEMS.

In case of any change in faculty during the accredited period, it shall be required to induct only eligible faculty as a replacement of faculty who has left. Lack of faculty due to any reason would be communicated to NBEMS within 15 days. Failure to appoint alternative faculty shall lead to withdrawal of accreditation and relocation of the ongoing trainees. This situation would also ‘red flag’ the hospital/institute for further accreditations.

Newly introduced faculty in the accredited department shall be required to submit his/her declaration form in the prescribed format with supportive documents such as Additional Qualification Registration Certificate (AQRC), Form 26AS/Bipartite Agreement /Tripartite Agreement (para 4.17), letter of appointment issued by the accredited hospital and relieving letter from last employer.

The applicant hospital shall maintain details of its full-time faculty for NBEMS Diploma courses on its official website indicating their designations and time period of availability in the hospital.

Grant of Diploma Seats: Subject to fulfilment of the minimum accreditation criteria, the maximum number of seats that can be granted to the applicant hospital in the concerned specialty are:

There is no requirement of a MoU for teaching basic sciences to the Diploma trainees. The concerned faculty for the Diploma courses shall teach the trainee in the basic sciences as applicable to the concerned specialty as per availability of local resources in the hospitals.

Patient Load in the applicant department/specialty

The applicant department should have minimum required patient load in OPD registrations and/or IPD admissions as tabulated below. The hospital shall be required to furnish the total patient load in the department for last 02 years in the application form.

In surgical disciplines, details of surgical case load shall be required for the last 02 years in terms of major and minor surgeries performed by the department, as mentioned in the application form for the concerned specialty. Spectrum of clinical/surgical diagnosis available in the department for last 02 years shall be required to be furnished in the application form.

NBEMS may verify the patient load data furnished in application submitted with supportive documents such as HIS records, OT registers etc.

Patient Load requirements for Diploma courses:

Physical Facilities & Supportive Services

Out Patient Department: The applicant hospital should possess adequate space for:

• Registration of patients along with facilities for centralized & computerized record keeping with proper indexing (such as HIS data etc.)

• Adequate number of rooms for examining the patients in privacy.

• Case conference room/teaching room in OPD area

In-Patient Department: The hospital should possess adequate space for doctor's duty room with adequate facilities for toilet, adequate space for each bed and in between, for side laboratory, for clinical investigations and separate room for clinical conference (ward teaching) etc.

Emergency Medical/ Critical Care: The applicant hospital should have 24 hours emergency and critical care services having adequate number of beds with supportive facilities for resuscitation and good medical cover, including Emergency Surgery O.T., ICU etc.

OT Complex: Hospitals seeking accreditation with NBEMS in surgical specialties should have:

• Adequate number of operation theatres: Modular/Major/Minor

• Essential Surgical & Anaesthesia equipments in OT, Post Op Care area and Intensive Care units

• Anesthesiologists both for the hospital service and training of candidates

• Other Allied Health/Para medical staff

• Intensive Care Unit for surgical emergencies/critical care of patients

• Post-operative ward/Recovery Area

• Simulation/Skill Lab based hands on training provisions for training of NBEMS trainees 4.30.

Supportive Services: The applicant hospital should have provisions for necessary supportive services for patient care as well as for training of NBEMS Diploma trainees such as:

• Radiology & Essential Imaging modalities

• Clinical Biochemistry

• Clinical Haematology

• Clinical Microbiology

• Surgical Pathology/Histopathology, Cytology

• Blood Bank/Storage

• Dietetics department with qualified dietician

• CSSD

• Medical Record Department

• Any special diagnostic or therapeutic support service required for the applicant department.