NMC drafts regulations on CBME, establishment of new medical colleges, education standards

NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued draft guidelines on the Competency Based Medical Education (CBME) curriculum, establishment of medical colleges and increase of MBBS seats, and maintenance of medical education standards. The commission has asked the colleges and others to send their feedback on the draft guidelines within a month.

Notably, NMC has withdrawn the recently published Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023 for MBBS admissions which included guidelines on CBME, admission of disabled students, format for medical colleges to submit admission-related information, etc.

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Under the regulations on maintenance of education quality, the medical colleges will have to submit an annual disclosure report. The Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) will verify the report including information on physical infrastructure, availability of required number of qualified faculty, availability of sufficient clinical material, teaching methodology, grading of students, feedback from students, teaching faculty, etc.

The commission added that those medical colleges which are found to be following the regulations will be given approval for renewing courses and increasing MBBS seats. Those who do not comply with the guidelines will attract a penalty, it warned.

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The guidelines on minimum requirements for establishment of new medical colleges, and increase in MBBS seats include mandatory departments, accommodation, staff rooms and department offices, biometric attendance system, monitoring of colleges, waste management, hostels for students, hospital requirements, etc.

Further, the CBME regulations include details on course-wise competencies required in a medical graduate, foundation course, university examinations, subject-wise distribution of competencies and teaching hours in each year, among others. Last year, NMC had asked medical colleges to implement the new CBME curriculum for undergraduate courses and amalgamate the old batch of MBBS students into it.