Academic year of Diplomate of National Board students to start only after NEET 2022

Currently, six peripheral hospitals have made submissions for NBE accreditation. Representation pic

Even though two civic-run peripheral hospitals out of the total six have been shortlisted for the Diplomate of National Board (DNB) post-graduate courses provided by the National Board of Examinations (NBE) in medicine, students eyeing the allotted seats will have to wait until the 2022 NEET examination results, as civic health officials say more courses would be approved by then.

mid-day in its article titled ‘City peripheral hospitals get nod for only five DNB, diploma seats' dated December 14, was the first to highlight the NBE accreditation for three seats at Bhabha hospital, Bandra and two seats at V N Desai hospital, Santacruz East, which will be valid till December 2025.

"We are excited and looking forward to the academic year to start, which will happen post the NEET 2022 examination and subsequent declaration of results. This also means that the process of inspection and accreditation by NBE will continue until then, and we are expecting that most of the courses, for which the six peripheral hospitals have made submissions, will get approvals before the start of the academic session," said Dr Vidya Thakur, chief medical superintendent, peripheral hospitals.

Dr Thakur further said, "With the growing population and health infrastructure available, it is the need of the hour to provide improvised healthcare facilities to people living in and around the vicinity of the peripheral hospitals. Quality treatment comes with a good team of medical experts and qualified post-graduate students."

"With peripheral hospitals already hiring senior faculties for running DNB and PG Diploma courses accredited by the NBE in Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, ENT, Medicine, Paediatrics and Anaesthesiology, we have started conducting major surgeries. Moreover, the additional arms of most of these hospitals are under construction and work is in progress," explained Dr Thakur.

"It is a win-win situation for the public at large, as quality life-saving treatment and surgeries can be done at these peripheral setups. The main aim is to reduce the burden of patient inflow to KEM, Nair, LTMG and Cooper hospitals," she said.

When asked about the seats for specialised subjects that the peripheral hospitals applied for, Dr Thakur said, "Rajawadi had applied for 11 courses, Bhabha for eight subjects and VN Desai for eight subjects. In some cases, we have got recommendations from NBE for certain specific courses and we are in the process of adhering to them. Once done, the accreditation is expected."

Speaking to mid-day, Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner of BMC, said, "We are positive about getting accreditation for all the peripheral hospitals before the start of the academic year. Gradually we will expand our DNB programmes to the other peripheral hospitals. These six peripheral hospitals will soon become a teaching centre."

One door opens, another closes

The six peripheral hospitals (Rajawadi, Bhabha, VN Desai, Shatabdi and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya), where the DNB courses will start next year, will no longer provide PG Diploma courses to students from College of Physician and Surgeon, Parel. Most of the 16 peripheral hospitals in the city suburbs used to provide courses in different streams of medicine and surgery to medical graduates, post their MBBS graduation course.

Confirming the same, Dr Thakur said, "As per NBE guidelines, courses from two different boards are not allowed. Moreover, the students from College of Physician and Surgeon, Parel, can apply to any of the remaining 10 civic-run peripheral hospitals."

When asked to explain the difference between regular post-graduate courses like MD or MS offered by the MUHS, Nashik and DNB courses offered by NBE, Dr Virendra Agarwal, professor of Orthopaedic, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital in Govandi, said, "The biggest difference is that MD and MS courses have management quota, whereas NBE courses are purely based on merit and they don't have any quota system. The fees for MD and MS courses under the quota system run into crores, but the same for DNB courses is approximately Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh per year."