PG Courses Mandatory for All Medical Colleges from Academic Year 2020-21
All government and private medical colleges are required to have PG courses from the academic year 2020-21.
06 April 2018: In recent amendments made to the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER), 2000 of the Medical Council of India (MCI), all existing medical colleges (both private and government) are required to start Post Graduate (PG) courses from the academic year 2020-21. The amendments apply to new medical colleges as well. As per the new regulation, medical colleges will have to start PG programmes within three years of receiving recognition for undergraduate programmes.
As reported by PTI (Press Trust of India), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has approved the MCI amendments, and the same is to be notified soon. A Senior Health Ministry official said that colleges failing to comply with the new changes would lose their recognition.
The official said, "The move is aimed at addressing the scarcity of doctors in the country. Once the amendments get implemented, around 10,000 post-graduate seats would be created over the next four years". He further added, “There are several medical colleges running only undergraduate courses and wasting valuable resources. It is more prudent to make use of the existing infrastructure than invest in building expensive new colleges.”
Procedure for Applying for new PG Seats
Medical colleges will have to apply for new seats to offer PG courses. MCI will approve PG seats after an inspection. The colleges will get three attempts to pass the inspection.
Budget 2018
In the budget 2018 presented on 01 February, the Finance Minister had announced an increase in PG seats by 8,058. It will get conducted in two phases –
- Phase-I: 4,058 seats will be increased by 2018-19
- Phase-II: 4,000 seats will be increased by 2020-21
Existing Rule
As per the existing rule; “The institutions recognised by the Medical Council of India for running Postgraduate courses prior to the commencement of the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act,1993 and those medical colleges recognised for running Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) course or institutions established by the Central Government for the purpose of imparting postgraduate medical education shall be eligible for starting any postgraduate degree or diploma and higher specialty course.(1A). The Central Government shall exempt any such existing/proposed non-teaching institutions or specialist institution or autonomous body owned and managed by the Central Government/State Government from fulfilling the prescribed provision of having an undergraduate teaching facility, and allow starting the Postgraduate medical course.”
About the Author: Himanshu Basant Bhatt
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