CHENNAI: Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Friday wrote a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya requesting approval for starting a new course on MD Diabetology, Nutrition and Metabolism in the State.
“We propose and request the National Medical Commission to Include MD (Diabetology, Nutrition and Metabolism) degree course nomenclature in the NMC schedule, thus enabling us to upgrade diploma seats in Diabetology to MD degree, and to start the course in other institutions in our State,” Subramanian said in the letter.
Tamil Nadu was the first State in the country to start a full-time, two-year diploma in Diabetology at the Institute of Diabetology at Madras Medical College, in 1986. Converting the diploma seats to MD degree seats will help in creating more number of teaching faculties in the speciality as per NMC norms, the minister said.
This will help in the successful implementation of the State’s and Centre’s policy of creating diabetes-care units across the country. This will also help in creating diabetes-care units in all the district peripheral hospitals in TN, Subramanian wrote.