Medical Colleges Can Be Fined A Crore For Violating New Panel Rules

Medical colleges that fail to comply with statutory provisions and the National Medical Commission's (NMC) regulations can be fined Rs 1 crore for every violation, according to the new set of rules notified by the top regulator on medical education and profession.

A penalty of Rs 5 lakh can be imposed on the faculty, head of department, dean, director, doctor submitting false declarations, documents, records, including patients' records.

Further, they can also be charged or penalised for misconduct under the Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations and the 'Maintenance of Standards of Medical Education Regulations, 2023, the new rules notified on September 27 stated.

If a medical college fails to comply with the statutory provisions and regulations as prescribed by the respective boards of the NMC, the commission may also withhold and withdraw accreditation for a period of up to five academic years, the regulations said.

The regulations stated that any attempt to pressurise Under-Graduate Medical Examination Board (UGMEB), Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB), or NMC through individuals or agencies will lead to an immediate halt of the processing of all applications or requests by the medical institution.

"Where the respective board has reason to believe that a medical institution has failed to comply with any statutory provision, regulations framed thereunder or has not complied with the Minimum Standards of Requirements (MSR) as prescribed by their respective Boards, or has conducted themselves in any manner which is not in accordance with the goals of medical education and practice, the board shall either penalise the medical college or medical institution and/or conduct further inquiry into such act and wherever needed provide an opportunity to rectify the same," the regulation said.

As per the regulations, medical colleges will have to furnish an "Annual Disclosure Report" to the corresponding board clearly demonstrating that they fulfill the required MSRs notified by UGMEB or PGMEB and regulations of NMC, as the case may be.

"Keeping in mind the overall objectives of the National Medical Commission Act, the respective Board (PGMEB or UGMEB) may undertake the evaluation of the Annual Disclosure Report for verifying whether the medical college or medical institution fulfills the required conditions prescribed by way of MSRs or NMC Regulations as the case may be," the document said.

These include verification of physical infrastructure, availability of the required number of qualified faculty for actual teaching and research and undertaking necessary student learning activities on a regular and continued basis, and availability of adequate clinical material in terms of number of patients of different specialties.

They also include the variety of patients to fulfill all-round training of students, number of variety of procedures, surgeries, laboratory investigations, radiological investigations and other relevant investigations, assessment of the teaching methodology adopted, and other parameters related to standards of medical education that may be added from time to time by the respective boards or NMC.

The commission will issue warnings or impose penalties for failing to comply with the set provisions.

It can also recommend to the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) to withhold processing of the application(s) for any new course, including increasing seats, reducing the number of students in the next or subsequent academic years to be admitted by the medical institution, stoppage of admission to one or more of the courses in the next or subsequent academic years, withholding and withdrawal of accreditation for a period up to five academic years, and withhold applications/requests by the medical institution.

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