Faculty in medical colleges are now barred from engaging in private practice during college hours by the National Medical Commission (NMC). They also have to adhere to a mandatory 75 per cent attendance. The commission has taken this step to deal with the problem of “ghost faculty”.
These new rules were mentioned in the new Minimum Standard of Requirements for Postgraduate Courses-2023 (PGMSR-2023) guidelines issued by the medical regulatory board last week, PTI reports.
"Faculty shall be full-time and shall not engage in private practice during college hours. It shall be mandatory to have at least 75 per cent attendance of the total working days for the required number of faculties," the guidelines read.
The guidelines also required that at least 15 per cent of all beds in the department providing post-graduate training be Intensive Care Unit (ICU)/High Dependency Unit (HDU) beds exclusively for that department and that 80 per cent of hospital beds be occupied year-round by patients needing inpatient care.
According to the guidelines, hospital buildings must adhere to current national building norms as well as several local statutory regulations for hospitals, taking into account the needs of the hospital as a service provider. These requirements include areas for administration, registration, records storage, inpatient and outpatient care, operating rooms, intensive care units, radiology and laboratory services, emergency rooms and so on.
Along with the expansion in hospital beds, the guidelines call for an increase in the faculty, facilities, and other personnel in the fields of radio diagnosis, anaesthesia, pathology, microbiology, and biochemistry.
In addition, more professors and infrastructure will be needed. If the department's workload increases, state the guidelines.
As per Section 3.1(iii) of PGMER-23 (Standalone post-graduate medical college/institute), post-graduate medical colleges or institutes must have at least 220 beds and the functional departments of pathology, biochemistry, microbiology, radiology, and anesthesiology (when there is a surgical speciality) as a requirement.
The institution must have suitable in-house laboratory and imaging facilities for postgraduate student training, which should be fully managed by the relevant department.
Laboratories must provide all necessary investigative facilities and be continually updated to reflect advances in knowledge, science, and technology, as well as research needs.
There will be digital records of investigations conducted in various departments and laboratories, as well as a well-equipped, air-conditioned blood bank capable of offering component therapy.
