Set up Enabling Units for students with disabilities: NMC to medical colleges

Dr Satendra Singh, a disability rights activist and a doctor with disability who was an expert in two of the key Supreme Court cases on the matter, said, “It is ironic that we had to approach the Supreme Court to get a Supreme Court order implemented. The Supreme Court had first asked the NMC to issue directions regarding enabling units in 2024, the body finally complied (with it) a year and nine months later.” The matter has been listed for hearing on Tuesday.

The enabling units have been tasked with facilitating academic and clinical support measures to make the institution barrier-free, according to the circular. The unit will receive and address requests from students with disabilities. It has also been asked to disseminate information regarding its role, availability and contact details of its personnel at the time of admissions.

The Unit will also coordinate with the Disability Assessment Board — it assesses whether a student with disability will be capable of completing all coursework with reasonable accommodations — faculty, hospital administration, and any other competent authority to ensure timely implementation of this reasonable accommodation.

Terming the decision a move in the right direction, Dr Singh said now students have a way to ask for the accommodations they might need. “So far, we have focused mainly on ensuring that students do not get left out of medical courses due to some arbitrary percentage of disability. The assessment boards, during the previous round of admissions, were asked to look at whether students were able to complete certain tasks instead. Now, we are looking at what happens once the student gets into the medical courses. To my knowledge, there is no other enabling unit in the country barring the one I set up at University College of Medical Sciences.”

Dr Singh, however, said that what constitutes reasonable accommodations needs to be defined. “Medical regulators of countries such as the UK already have such guidelines in place. Reasonable accommodations could mean ensuring all parts of a college are accessible to a wheelchair-user or ensuring that they are able to watch and perform surgeries, say with the help of a standing wheelchair.”

The Enabling Unit, according to the circular, has also been asked to maintain records of all requests received and accommodations provided, while ensuring confidentiality to ensure no candidate faces discrimination. “Many times a disability may not be apparent or visible. In such cases, students hesitate to ask for reasonable accommodations for the fear of their peers coming to know about their condition,” said Dr Singh.