Centre scraps 50% PCB marks rule for BHMS course, private candidates eligible too

NEW DELHI: Medical aspirants can now seek admission to the Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) course even if they score below 50% in physics, chemistry and biology or biotechnology in Class 12. Those who studied in an open schooling system or took their board tests as private candidates are also eligible.

The relaxation in the qualifying criteria for the undergraduate homoeopathy programme is among several changes notified by the central government to the National Commission for Homoeopathy (Homoeopathy Graduate Degree Course – Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery (B.H.M.S.) Regulations of 2022. These rules govern admissions, academics, evaluation and internships at homeopathy colleges across the country.

The earlier norms fixed a minimum cumulative score of 50% in the three subjects in the Class 12 board exam, 45% for persons with disability and 40% in case of SC, ST and OBC candidates, as the benchmark for admission to BHMS. The new regulations have omitted this condition for participating in AYUSH counselling, requiring the aspirants to have only passed the senior secondary exam with these three subjects.

BHMS Admission: Private candidates, syllabus

The Centre has also removed a clause that deemed open school and private candidates ineligible to pursue the discipline.

A new clause requiring the state and central admission authorities to share the information about students admitted to the programme to the National Commission for Homeopathy (NCH), the apex regulator of homeopathy education and profession set up in 2020, has been added to the original regulations.

The Centre has also brought a few changes to the BHMS syllabus, teaching and assessment norms. Even with a competency-based dynamic curriculum (CBDC) already in place in the homeopathy course, new rules require the Homeopathy Education Board to periodically prepare syllabi under the new framework.

The revised norms appear to put more emphasis on fundamental subjects at the expense of more specialised courses. The number of teaching hours for for homoeopathic materia medica and homeopathic philosophy subjects in the second year of BHMS have been increased from 180 to 250 each, while those for for pharmacology, surgery and gynecology and obstetrics have been reduced in the range of 36 to 58 hours.

BHMS Course: Exams

The rules now also clarify that if a student fails in either theory or practical exam, it'd be deemed as failure in the entire subject. They will have to repeat both the tests. It has also been elaborated that the university-level summative assessment at the end of each year would include the complete syllabus for the respective year.

Among other changes, a clause specifying the relative weightage for various parameters to evaluate learners in elective courses, such as innovation and depth of problem definition, extent of work undertaken, has been removed.

Plus, obtaining a provisional degree certificate from the university is no longer a prerequisite for joining Compulsory Rotatory Internship.

Homeopathy is one of the six alternative medicine disciplines in AYUSH – the others are Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Sowa Rigpa – and at the central level, admission is through counselling by the Ayush Admissions Central Counselling Committee (AACCC). States manage AYUSH counselling for their own colleges and seats.