- NBEMS revises accreditation and admission norms for medical institutions, mandates greater transparency and document verification, and introduces 11 new postgraduate and fellowship courses across specialised medical fields.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has made changes to their accreditation process and admission criteria for hospitals and medical institutions providing postgraduate and fellowship courses. These changes revolve around transparency in medical training, improved verification of candidates, and eligibility criteria for institutions. In addition to the changes in the regulation, NBEMS has introduced 11 new postgraduate and fellowship courses in specialized fields of medicine.
As per the new set-up, accredited hospitals and medical institutes will have to include a “NBEMS Mandatory Disclosures” section on their respective websites. Information relating to training facilities, teaching faculty strength, clinical load, occupancy rates, and stipend information is to be provided by the institutions in the prescribed format. The information to be included has to be checked and updated during the first week of every quarter. Non-compliance with the above requirement or providing incorrect information may lead to issues pertaining to the process of accreditation, re-accreditation and allotment of seats in the central counselling matrix.
The introduction of NBEMS has made the verification process stronger as well. In order to be admitted into any NBEMS program, the hospitals accredited by NMC have to verify the eligibility as well as the authenticity of the documents of the candidates before joining any NBEMS course via the OPJR (Online Portal for Joining and Registration). This decision has been taken due to reports that many candidates were joining NBEMS courses without going through the process of verification of their eligibility and originality of documents. Such hospitals will have to pay a penalty of ₹1 lakh for each candidate.
Eleven new courses have been added by the Board for creating additional scope in specialization postgraduate and fellowship training programs. The courses consist of Diploma in Nuclear Medicine, DNB Trauma & Acute Care Surgery, DrNB Paediatric Hemato Oncology, DrNB Pulmonary Medicine, DrNB Head & Neck Oncology, FNB Paediatric Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, FNB Upper GI Surgery, FNB Hepato Pancreato Biliary Surgery, FNB Asthma, Allergy and Applied Immunology, FNB Interventional Pulmonology and FNB Breast Surgery.
The NBEMS also updates the minimum accreditation criteria for certain programs. Even though there is no change in the requirement for establishment for DNB and Post MBBS Diploma programs in broad specialities, the hospitals requiring DrNB and FNB programs need to fulfil tougher criteria. The hospitals need to have at least three years of establishment along with two years of clinical experience.
The new framework is designed to improve accountability within the medical institutions along with providing special training programs. With better transparency, an improved verification process, and new programs, NBEMS intends to contribute towards the success of medical education in post-graduation in India.
