Top News

NMC: Medical diploma courses in the country's medical colleges are set to be discontinued. The National Medical Commission (NMC) has announced that these diploma courses will be phased out and replaced by postgraduate broad-specialty degree programs, such as MD and MS.

In a notification, the NMC stated that the 2026-27 academic session will be the final year for student admissions into PG diploma courses. From the 2027-28 academic year onwards, no new admissions will be made to PG diploma programs, and these courses will cease to exist.

**Reasons for Discontinuing PG Diploma Courses**
The objective behind discontinuing PG diploma courses is to standardize postgraduate medical education, enhance the quality and recognition of specialist training, and align medical qualifications with current educational standards. The Commission also noted that this decision would enable institutions to better utilize their existing infrastructure and faculty resources.

The National Medical Commission observed that many medical colleges currently run both diploma and degree programs in the same specialty, while some institutions offer only diploma courses. According to the Commission, many of these colleges already possess the necessary infrastructure, clinical material, faculty, and other resources to upgrade diploma seats to MD/MS seats.

**Announcement of Detailed Timeline**
To facilitate this transition, medical colleges currently offering PG diploma courses may apply to convert them into corresponding MD or MS degree programs. Applications must be submitted to the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) via an online portal. The NMC stated that a dedicated application module and a detailed timeline would be announced separately. This decision aligns with provisions already included in the Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER) 2023, which permitted medical colleges to convert diploma seats into degree seats. The regulations also stated that no new applications for introducing or increasing diploma seats would be accepted. Once implemented, this change will halt admissions to postgraduate diploma courses in medical colleges, and specialist medical training will shift entirely towards degree-based MD and MS programs.

Disclaimer: This content has been sourced and edited from News18 Hindi. While we have made modifications for clarity and presentation, the original content belongs to its respective authors and website. We do not claim ownership of the content.