The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued guidelines outlining the minimum standard requirements for postgraduate courses. The official notification released by the NMC as the Minimum Standard of Requirements for Postgraduate Courses (PGMSR)-2023 shall be implemented with immediate effect.
The notification mentioned that the guidelines were formed by the Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) under the powers conferred vide sub-sections (1), (a), (c), (d), and (e) of Section 25 of the National Medical Commission Act 2019 under Regulation 10 of the Establishment of New Medical Institutions, Starting of New Medical Courses, Increase of Seats for Existing Courses, Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023, and Section 3.4 of the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulation-2023.
The following are the key highlights of the guidelines:
An institution conducting both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching shall meet the minimum requirements for undergraduate training as laid down by the UG-MEB in the UG-MSR document and additionally fulfill the requirements for postgraduate training.
The hospital building shall adhere to the existing national building regulations and the local statutory regulations, including administration, registration, record storage, inpatient and outpatient services, operating theatres, intensive care units, radiology and pathology services, emergency areas, the Central Sterile Services Department, etc.
The growth of hospital beds should see a proportional increase in the faculty, infrastructure, and support staff in the departments of radiology, pathology, anesthesia, microbiology, and biochemistry.
A minimum of 15% of the total beds in a postgraduate training department should be dedicated to ICUs and High Dependency Units (HDUs).
At any given time of the year, 80% of beds should be occupied by inpatients.
Every teaching department should have a teaching room with audio-visual facilities sufficient to accommodate students for clinical case discussions or demonstrations.
Every medical institution should have a specified number of close-circuit cameras as required by the provisions of the NMC.
A minimum of 75% attendance on total working days for full-time faculty members is required, and they should not indulge in private practice during the working hours.
Each medical college or institute should have its own website with details of the departments, faculty contacts, PG courses with seat numbers, admitted student information, available facilities, and clinical workload details (IPD, OPD, and surgeries) for each department.
The ratio of postgraduate faculty to students in a government college or broad specialty should be one professor for every three students, and in a non-government college, one professor for every two students. Similarly, one associate professor should be available for every two students in government and one associate professor for each student in non-government colleges.
The ratio of recognized postgraduate faculty to the number of students for superspecialty courses should be one professor and one associate professor for every two students in both government and non-government colleges, and one assistant professor for each student in both government and non-government colleges.
There should be digital data of records of investigations done in each department or laboratory.
There should be a well-established library in each department with essential books and journals as per the curriculum.
There should be a well-equipped blood bank capable of providing component therapy.
There should be enough examination rooms available for the outpatient department.
References:
1) https://www.nmc.org.in/MCIRest/open/getDocument?path=/Documents/Public/Portal/LatestNews/MER.pdf
(Inputs from Various Sources)
(Rehash/Dr. Sushmita Ganguli)