PG medical education: Revamped board to focus on roping in pvt hospitals

Dr Abhijat Sheth of Apollo Hospitals, Ahmedabad, has been appointed as president of the National Board of Examinations (NBE) in a long-overdue restructuring.

The regulatory body for postgraduate medical education in India has been reconstituted and given the specific mandate of creating an enabling atmosphere for private hospitals to start postgraduate medical courses.

Dr Abhijat Sheth of Apollo Hospitals, Ahmedabad, has been appointed as president of the National Board of Examinations (NBE) in a long-overdue restructuring. The other members of the reconstituted board include director general health services Dr Jagdish Prasad, UGC chairman Ved Prakash, Medical Council of India president Dr Jayshree Mehta, Dental Council of India chairman Dr Dibyendu Mazumdar and president of Indian Medical Association Dr S S Agarwal.

The NBE, which conducts examinations for pursuing medical specialities, has been asked to examine the problems that limit the expansion of postgraduate medical education, with special emphasis on private institutions. This is in keeping with the government’s efforts to involve the private sector to reduce the shortage of specialists —- community health centres in rural areas face up to 80 per cent shortage.

In fact, the choice of NBE president — a person from a non-teaching hospital will head the highest regulatory authority for postgraduate education — is indicative of the government’s focus.

[related-post]

Watch Video: What’s making news

A three-point agenda has been set out for the NBE by the ministry of health — to look into the concerns of established hospital chains and what is preventing them from entering the field of postgraduate education, examine why the number of seats in courses that offer degrees or diplomas of the NBE are limited in private and government medical colleges, and to examine the conditions required for starting family medicine courses in district hospitals or private hospitals. The slow death of the institution of the general practitioner has been recognised as one of the ills of the Indian medical system, but the number of courses that offer postgraduate training in family medicine are very few.

“The primary target is to increase the number of doctors in the country and the shortest route is to get the private sector to invest — either alone or in partnership with the government. Currently there are 222 medical colleges in the private sector and 200 in the government sector, but private institutions have very limited presence in postgraduate education. That is something we expect the reconstituted NBE to address on priority basis,” said a health ministry official.

Medical education has in recent months been a priority for the government, and one of the cornerstones of the policy has been involvement of private sector. The government is trying to encourage chains like Apollo and Max to enter medical education.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram