The National Medical Commission has announced the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for medical colleges to conduct exams for post graduate examinations adhering to the recommended code of conduct. The guidelines have been set by the Post Graduate Medical Education Board of the National Medical Commission (PGMER).
As per the guidelines, the medical colleges are responsible for fair conduct of exams and to ensure the fairness, colleges are required to set a video recorder of the exam process and all relevant data including the exam process, details of the cases kept for the exam and the thesis of the students. Additionally, these guidelines address the issue of ‘ghost faculty’ among other concerns.
According to the NMC statement, the guidelines will go into effect immediately for the purpose of evaluating the examination as part of the inspection for recognition, recognition against increasing intake, and renewal of recognition of medical programs.
It also states that there will be no inspection of medical exams neither online nor offline and colleges have to stick to the official schedule as a part of code of conduct.
However, inspection from authorities will be conducted later after the examination is over. The inspection will be a physical method and assess the college with regard to the infrastructure, clinical material, investigative material, and other facilities and examination details.
In order to combat ghost faculty, faculty must register for the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system (AEBAS) before being inspected. The guidelines state explicitly that any flaw discovered in the medical colleges’ applications at any point during the process will result in their applications being rejected.