The National Medical Commission (NMC) has released a notification issuing clarification on the mandatory requirement of dissertation/ thesis submission. As per the release, regulation 5.2 (iii) of the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2023 provides that all broad speciality and super speciality students will do thesis related research and would write thesis.
Similarly, relevant provision regarding dissertation/ thesis as contained in Regulation 8.4 of the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2023 notes that "Five per cent of mark of total marks of Clinical/Practical and Viva Voce marks (20 marks) will be of dissertation/thesis and it will be part of clinical/practical examination marks. External examiner outside the state will evaluate dissertation/ thesis and take viva voce on it and marks will be given on quality of dissertation/thesis and performance on its viva voce. Therefore, student will submit the dissertation to the university through HoD and dean of the medical college."
The student cannot be prevented from appearing in the examination if he has not obtained the approval of dissertation/thesis from the HoD. The dissertation now accounts for 5 per cent of the total marks in the clinical/practical and viva voce components, meaning 20 marks out of the total marks allocated for these components are reserved for the dissertation. This change in the guidelines will help in the quality of thesis related research work.
The Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC), through its public notice dated June 13, 2024, had previously informed all concerned medical colleges/institutions about the requirement to complete the final examination by December 31, 2024. In a meeting held on July 31, 2024 with representatives from various health universities, concerns were raised regarding the mandatory submission of the dissertation/thesis as a prerequisite for appearing in the final examination for the PG Broad Specialty batch of 2021.