Congress leader Jairam Ramesh reacts to NMC’s decision to relax faculty recruitment eligibility

First, the Modi Govt lowers the cut-off percentiles for admission to post-graduate medical courses through NEET-PG.

Now it relaxes norms for recruitment of faculty by medical colleges.

The National Medical Commission was set up in Sept 2020 by an Act of Parliament with great…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) January 20, 2025

What’s the revised norm to be a medical college professor?

Those who have worked as consultants, specialists, and medical officers for at least four years in a minimum 220-bed teaching or non-teaching government hospital can become an assistant professor. According to the new norms, a consultant, specialist, or medical officer with at least 10 years of experience can become an associate professor.

The 2022 regulations allowed non-teaching doctors to become assistant professors after working for two years in a 330-bed non-teaching hospital, but only if the hospital was in the process of being converted into a medical college.

This change was implemented because the government was converting several district hospitals into new medical colleges. According to the previous guidelines, this was intended to be a one-time provision.

The new regulations also ease the promotion criteria for senior residents with diplomas, allowing those working as senior residents in the same institute to be eligible for the position of assistant professor.

Additionally, individuals who have served as postgraduate (PG) teachers for the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences-approved diploma courses can qualify to become professors in National Medical Commission (NMC)-approved colleges after gaining three years of experience as PG teachers.