BENGALURU: The National Board of Examinations (NBE) on Saturday announced that 50 per cent of seats created by government hospitals in districts will be filled with the help of the new Diplomate of National Board (DNB) courses.
As of now, only government hospitals attached to medical colleges provide Post Graduate medical training for Doctor of Medicine (MD)/Master of Science (MD/MS). Through the NBE initiative, MBBS candidates finding it difficult to get PG medical seats can upgrade to specialist grade through PG upgradation programmes available through DNB courses. This has created 60 extra Post Graduate seats in Karnataka. The NBE seats are generally filled by central counselling.
However, keeping in mind the requirements due to heavy shortage of specialists in rural Karnataka and in government hospitals, the NBE has allowed 50 per cent of seats created by DNB upgradation courses to be filled by the state government. By relaxing several criteria regarding the functioning of courses, NBE has helped small government hospitals. Hospitals with 100-bed capacity can also apply for NBE courses. This is part of the new regulations announced on Saturday, said Dr Abhijat Sheth, president, NBE. With medical graduates struggling to get seats in Post Graduate programmes, at present, there is a worrying dip in the number of specialised doctors. There are 40,000 specialised doctors all over India.
According to Dr Abhijat Sheth, president, NBE, “They are looking at beefing the number of specialised doctors to 1,40,000-1,50,000 between 2020 and 2025, to meet public health needs of the country.” Karnataka is the second state after West Bengal where the new regulations of implementing the NBE courses at district hospitals are put into action. Moreover, NBE has also set aside an in-service reservation, by which already practising MBBS doctors can take up courses through DNB to become specialists. Dr Parimala S Maroor, Deputy Director, Health and Family Welfare, Karnataka, said, “NBE’s reservation for the doctors in service would also motivate them to join the government sector.”