FM SEPTEMBER 2018 ISSUE - digital edition

almost 7,000 post graduate medical
seats, mainly in private hospitals.
When contacted, Dr. Alexander
Thomas, President, ANBAI, said, “The
GOI 2012 gazette notification stated that
both DNB and MD are equivalent. We
are asking the government to follow the
law.”
However, the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Health and Family
Welfare recommended that ‘the DNB
qualification awarded by NBE shall be
equal in all respects to the postgraduate
degrees awarded by MCI, except in
relation to teaching in medical colleges.’
But ANBAI has been demanding
equivalence as per 2012 notification.
Dr. Sunil Sharma further said that by
establishing DNB-MD equivalency and
allowing DNB graduates to teach, more
specialist doctors can be created and
this in turn will contribute to the buildup
of healthcare sector in the country.
In a related development, another
representative body of DNB doctors
have filed an appeal to the Delhi High
Court seeking equivalence. ”The Delhi
High Court has already admitted our
case and the next hearing is slated
for October,” says Dr Jateen Ukrani,
President, Association of DNB Doctors.
The association is also lobbying with
the government simultaneously,
he added.
Eligibility rules are
binding: MCI
Medical Council of India (MCI),
on the other hand, makes it
clear that the revised norms
are not against DNBs teaching provided
they have secured the qualification
from a medical college where “teaching
and learning taking place for the same.”
Explaining the rationale for the
additional stipulation, MCI points to
the governing teachers’ eligibility
qualification regulation that prescribes
requirements for full-time teachers in
medical colleges.
“The stipulated conditions are
prescribed to evoke parity from the
point of view of the material fact
that what is incorporated in regular
MD/MS courses of three years duration
Eligibility for teaching--
The bone of contention
including the pedagogical skills which
are gained by the regular learners by
teaching the undergraduate students
in a medical college is missing with
reference to the DNB learners in places
other than medical colleges.,” according
to a response issued by Dr Jayshree
Mehta, President, MCI.
Since the eligibility so prescribed in
the regulation is binding in nature and
mandatory in character, they “are not
open for any waiver, condonation of
concession of any type.”
Setting and monitoring the
standards of medical education through
The ongoing controversy on DNB equivalence started
when the Medical Council of India (MCI) revised its
Minimum Qualifications for Teachers in Medical Institutions
Regulations in June 2017. The requirement now is that
doctors who have completed their DNB from institutions
not recognised by MCI, such as private hospitals,
need to complete three years of junior
residency and two years of senior residency, if
they wish to qualify for the post of an assistant
professor in a teaching institute. It implies that DNB doctors
need an additional five years of service experience if they
want to have a career in a medical college.
DNB doctors found the new norm a major impediment
to find a teaching job soon after qualifying for the diploma.
The new standards also cast doubts on the eligibility of
those DNB members who are already working as faculty.
DNB doctors maintain that teaching is an integral
aspect of their curriculum and the MCI has acted unilaterally
without consulting them or the health
ministry. The Ministry of Health has made it
clear that DNB is equivalent to MD/MS through
notifications. However, the MCI is continuing with its
policy, they allege.
SEPTEMBER 2018 / FUTURE MEDICINE / 43