Doctors Will Soon Have to Take Revalidation Exams Every 3-5 Years

A slew of reforms in the healthcare sector could potentially split the doctors’ community, reports Chandan Nandy.

Doctors with MBBS and MD degrees will undergo a revalidation exercise by way of taking stringent examinations every three to five years. This is part of a slew of health sector reforms that will be implemented by the Union Health Ministry beginning next year, according to sources close to Health Minister JP Nadda.

Knowledgeable Health Ministry sources said that the broad-based reforms – which are in the last stages of being finalised before the Union cabinet approves them – also aim to derecognise both government and private medical colleges if they fail to perform in terms of students’ results.

Beginning next year, the Health Ministry will begin the process of establishing a national accreditation body that will officially designate and/or certify both private and government hospitals as competent to treat patients. The accreditation process will be based on stringent criteria and is aimed at creating best practices and high standards across most functions of hospitals in the private and public sectors.

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First Steps of Accreditation

Accreditation will first be granted to deserving private hospitals, followed by government-run hospitals, across Tier-I cities or megacities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata, before the move is expanded to the proposed smart cities mission that the Narendra Modi government is in the process of widening.

The smart cities mission aims to develop a comprehensive infrastructure incrementally, with a focus on core areas so that citizens get a “decent quality of life”, a clean and sustainable environment, and solutions to urban problems.

The Centre wants patients availing of the services of private and government hospitals to be the “biggest” beneficiaries of the accreditation move. The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare, which was set up by the central government in 1997 but functioned as an autonomous registered society, issued certification to private hospitals.

Borrowing NHS Practice

However, the Modi government’s boldest health sector reform in many years – and this is likely to attract strong opposition from the doctor’s community across India – is the revalidation examination of MBBS and specialised degrees such MD and MS. The aim is to weed out “fake doctors” and “quacks” who practice without valid degrees awarded by recognised medical colleges. The government is said to have borrowed the contours of the proposed move from the British National Health Service (NHS).

The health department is working in conjunction with the Medical Council of India (which is already a toothless body) and the Indian Medical Association to get views as broad as possible on the proposed degree revalidation move. The government is firm on ensuring that doctors have the valid licence to practice.

Health Ministry Official

The official added that the entry of each MBBS graduate’s details in the medical registry will be retained.

“The aim will be to achieve standards followed and practised in the US and European countries,” the official said.

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CGHS and ESI Doctors

Government doctors serving in the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and Employees’ State Insurance hospitals will be among the first to be directed to take the revalidation examination, the sources said.

The proposed series of reforms initiated by the Health Ministry was preceded by the passing of a bill, which stipulated a uniform entrance examination – NEET – to be followed by all “medical educational institutions” at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels in both English and Hindi.

Opposition From IMA

While the government is “firm” on these proposals, a significant group of doctors and the IMA have taken serious exception to some of the plans, especially the one involving designating those practising ayurvedic, yunani and homoeopathic forms at par with MBBS graduates. The IMA is also staunchly opposed to the BJP government’s proposal that seeks to allow ayurveda, yunani and homoeopathy doctors to “upgrade” to the same “level” as MD and MS.

Another area of friction between the health ministry and the IMA is the former’s directive, which has already been implemented in India’s BIMARU states, that fresh MBBS graduates serve a mandatory three-year period in a rural area under the village sarpanch.