Postgraduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations, 2017

No. MCI-18(1)/2017-Med./___________. In exercise of powers conferred by Section 33 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956), the Medical Council of India with the previous sanction of the Central Government hereby makes the following regulations to further amend the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000.” namely:-

1. (i)    These regulations may be called the “Postgraduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations, 2017”.

(ii)    They shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2.    Clause 6(1), (2) & (3) under the heading “Starting of postgraduate Medical Courses and their recognition” of the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000”, shall be substituted as under:-

“(1)     An institution intending to start a post-graduate medical education course or to increase the annual intake capacity in an already ongoing course shall obtain the prior permission of the Central Government under section 10A of the Act. The prior permission granted by the Central Government for Postgraduate Degree/Postgraduate Diploma courses shall be for four and three academic years respectively

Provided that it shall be incumbent upon Medical Colleges/Medical Institutions to make an application for starting of Post-graduate medical education courses within three years of grant of recognition, i.e., three years from the date of inclusion of the MBBS qualification awarded by the Medical College in the First Schedule of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. Failure to make an application for starting of Postgraduate courses within the stipulated time shall entail the withdrawal of recognition of MBBS qualification.

Provided further that a Medical College/Medical Institution that makes an application for starting of a Postgraduate course in the eventuality of disapproval shall be granted two more opportunities for the succeeding years to make an application. Failure to obtain permission of the Central Government thereafter shall entail the withdrawal of Recognition of MBBS qualification.“

    Provided further that above shall be applicable to the scheme submitted from the academic year 2020-21 onwards, in order to provide time to the existing colleges to apply.

(2)    The Institution shall apply for recognition of the Post Graduate Medical qualification to the Central Government through the affiliating University, when the first admitted batch shall be due to appear for the examination to be conducted by the affiliating University.

In the event of deficiencies being found in the assessment, the Institution shall be granted an opportunity to submit compliance within 30 days from the date of communication of deficiencies by the Council. Such an opportunity to comply with the deficiencies shall be availed by the Institute only twice. The Postgraduate Medical Education Committee on finding the compliance satisfactory shall convey the recommendation to recognize the course. In all others cases, the prior permission of the Central Government granted under sub-clause (1) shall be deemed to have lapsed after four and three years for Postgraduate Degree/Postgraduate Diploma courses respectively. Further, in such cases; recommendation shall be made to the Central Government to include the qualifications in the First Schedule of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 only in respect of first four batches of Postgraduate Degree Courses and three batches of Postgraduate Diploma courses.

(3) Failure to seek timely recognition as required in sub-clause 2 shall invariably result in stoppage of admission to the concerned Post Graduate course.

In the event of failure of the institute to seek recognition for existing Post Graduate courses, the Council may recommend to the Central Government for imposition of exemplary penalty which may extend to Rupees ten lakhs per seat of the postgraduate course; and/or stoppage of other postgraduate Medical courses of the Institution; and/or debar the Institution from making any application for starting or increase of seats in postgraduate courses for a specified period; and/or reducing the intake capacity in MBBS.”

3.    Clause 8(1) under the heading “General” of the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000”, shall be substituted as under:-

    “The Medical Institution recognized under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 for running post-graduate courses prior to the commencement of the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 1993; the Medical Colleges recognised for running Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) course; and the Medical Institutions established by the Central Government for the purpose of imparting postgraduate medical education shall be eligible for starting a post-graduate medical education course or to increase the intake capacity in any already ongoing postgraduate medical education course.

Provided that it shall be permissible for Medical Colleges not yet recognized for the award of MBBS degree under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 to apply for starting of a Post-graduate medical education course in pre clinical and para clinical subjects, namely, Anatomy; Physiology; Biochemistry; Pharmacology; Pathology; Microbiology; Forensic Medicine; and Community Medicine at the time of third renewal i.e., alongwith the admission of fourth batch for the MBBS course; and in clinical subjects, namely, Anaesthesiology; Dermatology, Venerology and Leprosy; General Medicine; Paediatrics; Psychiatry; Radio-diagnosis; Radiation Oncology; Respiratory Medicine; Otorhinolaryngology; General Surgery; Ophthalmology; Orthopaedics; Obstetrics & Gynaecology, at the time of fourth renewal, i.e., along with the admission of fifth batch for the MBBS course.”

4.     In the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000”, in Regulation 9 under the heading “Procedure for selection of candidate for Postgraduate courses” shall be substituted as under:-

Preamble

1. The Parliament of India has amended the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 by the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act 2016. This Amendment Act after receiving the assent to the President has been notified in the Gazette of India on 5^th August 2016. The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act 2016 has inserted section 10 D and section 33 (mb) to the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. The said provision provides for a uniform entrance examination to all medical educational institutions at the under graduate level and post graduate level by the “designated authority”. By virtue of this Amendment the Parliament has provided legislative sanctity to the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test [hereinafter “NEET”] included in the Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations,1997 by Amendments notified in the Official Gazette on 27^th December 2010, 27^th February 2012 and 23^rd October 2012.
   

2. Earlier the provisions relating to NEET were quashed by the Hon`ble Supreme Court vide its judgment dated 18<sup>th</sup> July 2013 in Christian Medical College Vellore &Ors. (TC (C) No. 98 of 2012 and other 114 connected petitions). However, on a Review Petition preferred by the Medical Council of India and the Union of India, the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its order dated 11<sup>th</sup> April 2016 in Review Petition (c) Nos. 2059-2268 of 2013 captioned as Medical Council of India vs. Christian Medical College Vellore &Ors. has revived NEET Regulations. The admission to postgraduate courses for the academic year 2017-18 were conducted on the basis of provisions of the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2016 and the NEET Regulations revived by the Hon`ble Supreme Court and in the Terms of the terms of the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Act, 2016 the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test is the uniform entrance examination to all medical educational institutions at the post graduate level and shall continue to be the uniform entrance examination to all medical educational institutions at the post graduate level.
   

9.    Procedure for selection of candidate for Postgraduate courses shall be as follows:-

1. There shall be a uniform entrance examination to all medical educational institutions at the post graduate level namely ‘National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test’ for admission to postgraduate courses in each academic year and shall be conducted under the overall supervision of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.
   

2. The “designated authority” to conduct the ‘National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test’ shall be the National Board of Examination or any other body/organization so designated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
   
   1. In order to be eligible for admission to Postgraduate Course for an academic year, it shall be necessary for a candidate to obtain minimum of marks at 50^th percentile in the ‘National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test for Postgraduate courses’ held for the said academic year. However, in respect of candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, the minimum marks shall be at 40^th percentile. In respect of candidates with benchmark disabilities specified under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the minimum marks shall be at 45^th percentile for General Category and 40^th percentile for SC/ST/OBC. The percentile shall be determined on the basis of highest marks secured in the All India Common merit list in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Postgraduate courses.
      

Provided when sufficient number of candidates in the respective categories fail to secure minimum marks as prescribed in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test held for any academic year for admission to Postgraduate Courses, the Central Government in consultation with Medical council of India may at its discretion lower the minimum marks required for admission to Post Graduate Course for candidates belonging to respective categories and marks so lowered by the Central Government shall be applicable for the academic year only.

1. The reservation of seats in Medical Colleges/institutions for respective categories shall be as per applicable laws prevailing in States/Union Territories. An all India merit list as well as State-wise merit list of the eligible candidates shall be prepared on the basis of the marks obtained in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test and candidates shall be admitted to Postgraduate Courses from the said merit lists only.
   

Provided that in determining the merit of candidates who are in service of government/public authority, weightage in the marks may be given by the Government/Competent Authority as an incentive upto 10% of the marks obtained for each year of service in remote and/or difficult areas or Rural areasupto maximum of 30% of the marks obtained in National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test. The remote and/or difficult areas or Rural areas shall be as notified by State Government/Competent authority from time to time.”.

(5)    5% seats of annual sanctioned intake capacity shall be filled up by persons with benchmark disabilities in accordance with the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, based on the merit list of National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test for admission to Postgraduate Medical Courses.

In order to be eligible for admission to Postgraduate Course for an academic year, it shall be necessary for a candidate to obtain minimum of marks at 50^thpercentile in the ‘National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test for Postgraduate courses’ held for the said academic year. However, in respect of candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, the minimum marks shall be at 40^th percentile. In respect of candidates with benchmark disabilities specified under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the minimum marks shall be at 45^th percentile for General Category and 40^th percentile for SC/ST/OBC.

(6) No candidate who has failed to obtain the minimum eligibility marks as prescribed in Sub-Clause (3) above shall be admitted to any Postgraduate courses in the said academic year.

(7)    In non-Governmental medical colleges/institutions, 50% (Fifty Percent) of the total seats shall be filled by State Government or the Authority appointed by them, and the remaining 50% (Fifty Percent) of the seats shall be filled by the concerned medical colleges/institutions on the basis of the merit list prepared as per the marks obtained in National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test.”

(8)    50% of the seats in Postgraduate Diploma Courses shall be reserved for Medical Officer in the Government service, who have served for at least three years in remote and /or difficult areas and / or Rural areas. After acquiring the Postgraduate Diploma, the Medical Officers shall serve for two more years in remote and /or difficult areas and / or Rural areas as defined by State Government/Competent authority from time to time.

(9)    The Universities and other authorities concerned shall organize admission process in such a way that teaching in broad speciality postgraduate courses starts by 1^st May and for super speciality courses by 1^st August each year. For this purpose, they shall follow the time schedule indicated in Appendix-III.

(10)    There shall be no admission of students in respect of any academic session beyond 31^st May for postgraduate courses and 31^st August for super speciality courses under any circumstances. The Universities shall not register any student admitted beyond the said date.

(11)    No authority / institution shall admit any candidate to any postgraduate medicine course in contravention of the criteria / procedure as laid down by these Regulations and / or in violation of the judgements passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in respect of admissions. Any candidate admitted in contravention / violation of aforesaid shall be discharged by the Council forthwith. The authority / institution which grants admission to any student in contravention / violation of the Regulations and / or the judgements passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, shall also be liable to face such action as may be prescribed by the Council, including surrender of seats equivalent to the extent of such admission made from its sanctioned intake capacity for the succeeding academic year / years.”.

1. In the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations following clause shall be added after 9A(3):-
   

   9A(4) In order to prevent seat blocking in common counseling for admission to Postgraduate Courses and permissibility to exercise fresh choice during Counseling, for feature of fee shall be in accordance with the matrix contained in appendix-III.
   

   6.    In the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000”, the following additions in clause 11.1(a) under the heading Staff – Faculty, the following shall be added after the second proviso:
   

   Minimum staff required (Broad speciality):
   

   (First Unit)
   

   1-Professor
   

   1-Associate Professor
   

   1- Assistant Professor
   

   1-Senior Resident
   

   2-Junior Resident
   

Remaining units of the department (in multi unit departments) can be headed by Professor or Associate Professor and remaining two faculties can be Assistant Professor in addition to one Senior Resident and two Junior Resident.

The above definition shall not apply to the Departments of Critical Care/Departments with day care services such as Respiratory Medicine/Dermatology Venereology Leprosy/Ophthalmology/Otorhinolaryngology etc. The Council also decided to include the requirement of Residents in all departments in the Postgraduate..

7.    In the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000”, the following additions in clause 11.1(b) under the heading Staff – Faculty, the following shall be added after the third proviso:-

Minimum staff required (Super-speciality):

    (First Unit)

1-Professor

1-Associate Professor.

1- Assistant Professor

1-Senior Resident

2-Junior Resident

Remaining units of the department (in multi-unit departments) can be headed by Professor or Associate Professor and remaining two faculties can be Assistant Professor in addition to one Senior Resident and two Junior Resident.

8.    Clause 12(1) under the heading “Number of Postgraduate students to be admitted ” of the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000”, following shall be substituted/added:-

    The word Radiotherapy shall be substituted as “Radiation Oncology” in 2^nd paragraph

    After Third paragraph following shall be added:-

Provided further that in non-governmental Medical Colleges/Medical Institution, the application for increase of seats on the basis of said ratio shall be considered only if the College/Institute:-

1. Has a standing of 15 years

2. Should be running the Postgraduate course since 10 years

3.    Should have completed atleast 1 continuance of recognition assessment satisfactorily and

4.    Applies u/s 10A of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 for increase of seats which would be granted only after physical verification of faculty, resident, clinical material and infrastructural facilities etc.

9. Clause 13(2) under the heading “TRAINING PROGRAMME” of the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000”, in third line “each academic year” shall be substituted as under:-

    “Academic Term of 6 months”

10.    Clause 14 under the heading “EXAMINATION” of the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000”, following shall be substituted as under:-

    Obtaining a minimum of 40% marks in each theory paper and not less than 50% cumulatively in all the four papers for degree examinations and three papers in diploma examination. Obtaining of 50% marks in Practical examination shall be mandatory for passing the examination as a whole in the said degree/diploma examination as the case may be.

11.     In the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, in appendix the following note shall be added below the Admission schedule from the academic year 2018-19 onwards for Postgraduate Courses (broad Speciality):-

    Note:

1. All India Quota Seats remaining vacant after last date for joining, i.e 10^th May will be deemed to be converted into State Quota.
   
2. Institute/College/Courses permitted after 28^th February will not be considered for admission/allotment of seats for current academic year.
   
3. In any circumstances, last date for admission/joining will not be extended after 31^st May.
   
4. For the purpose of ensuring faithful obedience to the above time-schedule, Saturday, Sunday or Holidays (except National Holiday) shall be treated as working day.
   
5. The following Matrix shall be applicable with regard to permissibility to students to exercise fresh choice during counseling:-
   

12. In Schedule of the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, under Clause “A” at Sl.No. 25, the nomenclature of “MD(Radio-Therapy)” is changed to

        “MD (Radiation Oncology)”.

(Dr. Reena Nayyar)

Secretary (I/c)

Medical Council of India

Footnote:    The Principal Regulations namely, “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000” were published in Part III, Section 4 of the Gazette of India on 7^th Oct., 2000 and amended vide Medical Council of India Notification dated 03/03/2001; 06/10/2001; 16/03/2005; 23/03/2006; 20/10/2008; 25/03/2009; 21/07/2009; 17/11/2009; 09/12/2009; 16/04/2010; 08/12/2010; 27/12/2010; 09/02/2012; 27/02/2012; 28/03/2012; 17/04/2013; 01/02/2016; 17/06/2016; 08/08/2016; 31/01/2017; 11/03/2017; 06/05/2017; 27/06/2017 and 31/07/2017