The National Medical Commission (NMC) has released a new set of interim guidelines on disability admissions. While these guidelines are meant to make medical admissions more inclusive, disability rights activists say they are anything but disabled-friendly.
What are these guidelines and why have they attracted such sharp criticism?
The NMC released these interim disability guidelines for MBBS admissions just a day before NEET UG counselling began. This came in response to a Supreme Court ruling in the Om Rathod vs Union of India case, which directed the NMC to align its policies with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
The new model shifts focus from disability cut-offs to what the NMC calls “functional competency.”
Here’s what the guidelines say:
Medical colleges must now have disability officers and barrier-free infrastructure. A grievance redressal system should be in place. And students with disabilities must submit a self-certified affidavit declaring what they can and can’t do physically.
This affidavit is what has triggered major criticism.
Activists say this isn’t functional competency, it’s systematic exclusion of persons with disabilities.
They also point out that the committee which drafted these guidelines included only one member with a disability, and that person had no background in disability rights.
These guidelines are being called ableist, exclusionary, and even legally challengeable.
Are these new guidelines a step forward, or a step back for disability rights in medical education?
Why? Let’s hear from Dr Satendra Singh, a senior doctor and disability rights advocate who’s been closely involved in this issue.
