Medical Council of India bars Universities from starting PG, post-doctoral courses

In a blow to lakhs of doctors across the country, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has barred all health universities from starting any post-graduate or post-doctoral certificate course this year.

The PDCC courses can be done by doctors with an MD to enable them to perform specialized procedures. "For instance, a doctor cannot perform an angiogram unless she has completed this 18-month fellowship or the PDCC course.

Health universities across the country have been offering PDCC courses for over two decades. With each of the 500-odd institutions in the country offering these courses and having their own academic calendar, the MCI's directive will throw their schedule out of gear.

Doctors are upset by the MCI's move to control health universities. "On the one hand, the UGC wants to start innovation universities to encourage innovation in institutions of higher learning. But you have MCI which wants to control its universities.

Doctors and university heads say this will only reduce the number of specialists. "The aging population in India is on the rise. We need health universities to start fellowship courses in geriatric medicine to treat the aged. The MCI should only monitor medical education. It shouldn't interfere in structuring of courses; that's not its job," said a vice-chancellor.