The dream to become professor in the medical colleges may get longer. The Medical Council of India (MCI) working in this direction. Several suggestions from various medical institutions have been received by MCI in this regard. According to the proposal the process the minimum duration to get promotion as the professor in a medical college will require at least nine years. At present the minimum requirement is seven years’ experience.

Moreover, doctors will have to work as senior resident for minimum two years to become eligible for the assistant professor in such colleges. At present, the minimum requirement for the appointment as senior resident and assistant professor is equal.

The issue has actually been raised after the decision to allow faculty of age upto 70 years instead of 65 years in medical colleges. Some of the heads of the medical colleges and universities have asked the MCI to review the service conditions considering the lack of availability of trained faculties and relaxation in the maximum age for the faculty. The issue come before the national summit of MCI, held this week in New Delhi. Delegates were also demanded UGC-like service layers or hierarchy from senior resident to professor’s rank i.e. introduction of selection grade, senior professor, emeritus etc. so that teachers once become professors must have some incentives to work.

Interestingly, MCI took no time to announce that the Council is working on the issue. Dr. Purushottam Lal and Dr. HS. Rissam, Members of Board of Governor, MCI told the delegates that the Council has already taken the issue and it will soon come up with details.

According to them several other suggestions have come up into the notice and MCI is working on it.

According to CBSE the test is being organised at 43 centres at ten cities. Interesting fact is that more girl candidates are appearing in the main test than boys this time.

The government also told the apex court that it had finalised the rules and regulations for undergraduate medical course.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice H.L. Gokhale that the government wanted to hold common entrance tests to have uniform standards of medical education in the country.

Subramanium said the government had succeeded in evolving the consensus among private and government medical colleges on the tests.

The court was also told that an earlier announcement by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for holding a common entrance test was deferred due to opposition from the Tamil Nadu government.

In Tamil Nadu, admission in professional courses is on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examinations.

The court asked the government why it needed its approval to issue the notification, saying it did not want to be part of the government’s policy decisions.

It also told the government that it should not rush with the notification for the common test as there could be opposition from states.

IANS

“The common entrance test for undergraduate and postgraduate students will soon be a reality. The health minister has approved (it). We are awaiting the notification to be issued. Once the notification is issued it should be implemented for 2010-2011,” MCI’s Board of Governors’ chief S.K. Sarin said.

The MCI has proposed a common entrance test (CET) for all medical colleges in the country. According to Sarin, it will cover the private as well as government medical colleges across the country.

“It will be convenient for the students who presently have to take 10 to 15 different entrance tests,” he said.

Ranks will be given to students on the basis of this test which will be used for admission in colleges all across the country. The move is also being seen as an attempt to bring an end to the management quota seats and other unfair means practiced in giving admission in private medical colleges.

“This test will ensure transparency, every college will have to take the students on the basis of the ranks,” he said.

However, the inclusion of All India Institute of Medical Sciences and other central medical colleges is not clear yet.

“These institutes are not under MCI. We have proposed their inclusion,” Sarin added.

The health ministry proposal comes as the human resource development ministry has proposed a common entrance test for medical as well as engineering.

Sarin, however, said that the modalities of the CET is yet to be finalised and the council is in dialogue with Central Board of Secondary Education and HRD ministry as well.

Reducing the burden on students is the main concern and it can be done in coordination with the HRD ministry, he said.

“They can have common test for physics and chemistry. The modalities are yet to be finalised,” he said. (IANS)

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the government proposed to bringing reforms in the health sector, especially in coordinating all aspects of medical education.

He said the government is considering the setting up of an overarching regulatory body called the National Council for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH) that will coordinate all aspects of medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy and paramedical education.

“The bill for the proposed council is being worked out in consultation with various stakeholders,” Azad added.

He said in order to make the proposed council more effective that the existing system, it is proposed to trifurcate the regulatory functions of the council by forming three bodies under its ambit for accreditation, academics, ethics and registration.

Apart form its regulatory work, the proposed council will also enhance the supply of skilled manpower in the health sector.