PG medical diploma holders can teach as senior residents

The MCI’s board of governors (BoG) amended the teacher eligibility qualifications (TEQ) rules, which now makes post-graduate (PG) diploma holders in medicine eligible to teach as senior residents in medical colleges

A gazette notification recently released by the Medical Council of India (MCI) has invited mixed reactions from several stakeholders across the country.

In the past few years, medical and dental colleges have increased in numbers, taking the total intake capacity of medical colleges from to almost 85,000 seats in the current academic year from the 66,000 seats in 2017 (PTI Photo)

The MCI’s board of governors (BoG) amended the teacher eligibility qualifications (TEQ) rules, which now makes post-graduate (PG) diploma holders in medicine eligible to teach as senior residents in medical colleges.

Currently, only MBBS graduates who have also cleared their Masters in Surgery (MS) or Doctor of Medicine (MD) are considered eligible for senior residency in colleges, which is also a prerequisite for a teaching post. The amendment says that even a PG diploma student, who was otherwise only eligible for junior residency, will now be eligible for senior residency posts. This news has brought relief to several colleges in the state and across the country which are facing a shortage of faculty members.

“There are enough and more doctors as part of the teaching faculty, but there’s a dearth of senior residents as many MD and MS holders are reluctant to join medical colleges as senior residents. Therefore, this decision by the MCI will be beneficial to many medical colleges,” said Pravin Shingare, former

director of state Directorate of Medical Education & Research (DMER).

In the past few years, medical and dental colleges have increased in numbers, taking the total intake capacity of medical colleges from to almost 85,000 seats in the current academic year from the 66,000 seats in 2017. The number of faculty, however, is not increasing at the same speed.

While several stakeholders, including students have given a thumbs up to this decision by the MCI, some officials are unsure of this move.

“PG diploma holders can be eligible to become assistant professors at medical colleges, but to allow them to take over teaching posts? It will be better to insist on an MS from these students before hiring them as senior residents or teaching faculty,” said TP Lahane, director, DMER.