AIIMS, JIPMER to be included in NEET-UG: Harsh Vardhan

Union Minister of Health Harsh Vardhan announced that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) will be included under the umbrella of the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET).

These institutions used to conduct separate entrance exams for admission into the under-graduate medical course (MBBS) earlier.

Implementing NMC

Harsh Vardhan also spoke about the implementation of the National Medical Commission 2019, and said that the formation of the NMC is taking place at a fast pace. “When the centre asked the states for nominating members, the Delhi Medical Council called for elections to nominate a member, when some unscrupulous elements moved court to create hurdles in implementation of the act,” a senior official told BusinessLine.

Harsh Vardhan said that the court case has now been withdrawn, and that the Ministry was moving ahead with the implementation.

NMC will consist of 33 members, including nine members from the State Medical Councils (SMCs) and ten Vice-Chancellors (VCs), who will be rotated every two years. “28 states have SMCs of which we have received nominations for 22 members, and 23 nominations for Vice-Chancellors. They will all be a part of the Medical Advisory Council (MAC), a parallel larger body of ninety members, of which we will draw lottery on October 14, for nineteen members to be selected for NMC,” said the official.

“This lottery will be conducted in the presence of the media, to ensure that the process is transparent and the entire process will be video-graphed,” said Harsh Vardhan.

Apart from the 19 members which will be selected through lottery, NMC comprises of a chairperson and presidents of four autonomous boards which will be selected by a Search Committee. The Search Committee will conduct thorough background checks before appointing the chairperson and the presidents and will comprise of Cabinet Secretary, Secretary (Health), three medical experts, with over 25 years of experience, and one non-medical expert and one elected SMC member, the official said.

Other appointees to the NMC include three non-medical experts, Directorate General of Health Services, Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research, Additional Secretary (Medical Education) and a director from any of the AIIMS, who will be selected by the Health Minister.

Fee regulation

On the topic of fee regulation, additional Secretary (Medical Education) Arun Singhal said that it is difficult to bring fees of all 265 private medical colleges at the same level, as 32 broad specialities at post-graduate levels will have different fee structure, but states will have to adhere to mandatory guidelines of fee regulation of up to 50 per cent of the seats including all other charges that the universities demand, and that even deemed universities will come under the ambit.

“While inspections will be carried out only after five years of granting license, and not every year, risk-based inspections on the basis of complaints received can be carried out at any time by the NMC, and the states will be bound to comply to keep a check on fees because otherwise those colleges can face the threat of de-recognition from the NMC at any time,” Singhal told BusinessLine.