
The National Medical Commission (NMC), in its recently published Draft Teachers Eligibility Qualifications (TEQ) 2024 Regulations, proposed relaxing the current criteria to permit non-teaching physicians to become assistant and associate professors if they have prior experience working in a government hospital with 220 beds that provides both teaching and non-teaching services.
The recently proposed regulations have increased the tenure requirement for work experience, while the NMC has decreased the number of beds required in teaching or non-teaching hospitals.
The tenure for non-medical teachers has been extended to four years, whereas previously, only two years of work experience in a non-teaching or teaching hospital was required.
A total of ten years of work experience is now required to be considered for the position of Associate Professor.
However, the 2022 regulations also stated that if a hospital was transformed into a Government Medical College for the purpose of delivering undergraduate medical education, non-teaching consultants would be permanently merged as Assistant Professors.
Clause 8.1 of the TEQ 2022 Regulations Stated the following:
A non-teaching Consultant or Specialist, possessing a postgraduate medical degree, working for at least two years in the concerned specialty in a minimum 330-bedded non-teaching Government Hospital shall be eligible to be designated as Assistant Professor and be absorbed permanently, if that hospital is being converted into a Government Medical College for imparting undergraduate medical education. The subsequent promotions to higher teaching designations would be as per these regulations. Provided further that this would only be a one-time provision and such absorbed teachers should not be transferred from that institution for five years. The subsequent appointment of any faculty would be as per these regulations.
What has the NMC Proposed in the Draft TEQ 2024 Regulations?
Clause 3.12 of the Draft TEQ 2024 Regulations specifies the relaxation in norms for non-teaching Consultants/Specialists/Medical Officers working in Government Hospitals.
The regulations state the following:
"A non-teaching Consultant/Specialist/Medical Officer, possessing a Postgraduate Medical Degree, working for at least four years in a minimum 220-bedded teaching/non-teaching Government Hospital, shall be eligible to become an Assistant Professor in that broad specialty. They should have completed the Basic Course in Biomedical Research (BCBR) prior to becoming eligible for such a post. The subsequent promotions to higher teaching designations will be as per the criteria mentioned in Table IA and IB of this regulation. They will have to complete the Basic Course in Medical Education Technology (BCMET) within three years of such an appointment if it is required for the specialty," stated the draft.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Dr. Puja Devi/MSM)