MBBS students should mandatorily complete internships in the same institute as per MUHS guidelines.

New Delhi: The Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) has clarified that the undergraduate medical (MBBS) students will have to complete their mandatory 12-month internship at the same college where they are pursuing their degree. MUHS issued a circular on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, releasing the new internship guidelines by the National Medical Council (NMC)

As per the new gazette issued by the NMC on internship guidelines, externship, where students can do their internship in hospitals attached to medical colleges other than the institute they have enrolled in for MBBS courses, is not allowed anymore.

“The provision made available to students until last year where one could pursue their internship at other universities in India, including deemed institutes/universities in Maharashtra, is now being discontinued. Students will have to clear their 12-month internship at the university they are enrolled in,” according to a circular issued by MUHS.

In July last year, the NMC issued the Draft Regulations for Compulsory Rotating Internship 2021, which said, “All Indian Medical Graduates shall complete their entire period of compulsory rotating internship training (CRMI) in the institution where they have pursued and completed their Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS).

This, however, received flak from students, who were attending lectures online, or at colleges in their hometowns. In response to student demand, the NMC in 2021 agreed to extend the provision for one year, taking into account the pandemic and lockdown.

Following a directive from the National Medical Commission (NMC), the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) on Monday issued circular disallowing transfers to other colleges for ‘externship’. Several students seek an externship for multiple reasons to get more clinical exposure or for doing it from an institute closer home or for entirely skipping it for NEET-PG preparation, though unofficially.

Changing colleges for externships were being permitted till last year. The MUHS academic council discussed the NMC’s gazette on Compulsory Rotating Medical Internships Regulations and issued the circular. According to the circular, all medical colleges were informed that the process of changing colleges/attached hospitals for internships, which was allowed as per an amendment in 2012, will be discontinued for degree courses.

 

The new rule will be applicable from the date of the circular, it added. An internship of one year after the four-and-a-half-year MBBS course is mandatory to get the degree and to be eligible for postgraduate admissions. The directive has brought clarity for students. The norms, though were to be applicable last year, were relaxed on account of the pandemic.

Dr Pravin Shingare, former director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research, said it is a welcome move as the externship process was being misused by many. “Students seek externships in faroff hospitals where there is low patients’ flow and prefer to study for their NEET-PG instead. They even attend coaching classes during this period. In government hospitals in metro cities, the patients’ flow is high, and their preparation takes a hit,” said Dr Shingare. Due to exter-nship, the workload gets distributed and sometimes, local interns do not get enough clinical exposure, he added.

But Sudha Shenoy, a parent representative, said migration to other colleges was an advantage for private and deemed students to get good clinical exposure in government colleges. “But there was also a scope to skip internships by influencing faculty members,” she added.

Brijesh Sutaria, a parent, said he wanted his daughter to do an externship from a college in Mumbai as it would have been closer home, but she is happy with the government decision. He also sought uniform stipend for interns across government and private colleges. Jasmine Gogri, a counsellor, said the earlier process had a disadvantage as many students from state- and civic-run colleges used to seek internships in private colleges for less workload and NEET-PG preparation.

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Written by Eeshwari Jedhe