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Time of India
04-08-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Boards ignore SC order, says no to disabled who cleared NEET
Several candidates with disabilities who cleared the NEET exam in 2025 have been rejected by many of the 16 medical boards across India as being ineligible to do MBBS due to their disability. The candidates complained that the boards seem to be unaware or poorly trained in the new interim guidelines on "functional assessment" of persons with disabilities issued on July 19. With no appellate body being constituted by the National Medical Commission (NMC) or the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), as directed by the Supreme Court, the candidates are left with no forum for redress other than courts. According to the National Testing Agency, 753 of the 8,842 candidates with disabilities who sat for the NEET exam have cleared it. The interim guidelines state that legal and policy developments collectively emphasise the prioritisation of "functional competency over rigid percentage-based disability thresholds". They talk about facilitating reasonable accommodations, revisiting eligibility norms and adopting evaluation criteria focused on individual capabilities. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like For all your EV needs ScottishPower Learn More Undo Yet, according to a wheelchair-using candidate who was rejected, the board asked the person to perform seven physical activities including walking, standing and climbing stairs. Another candidate with missing fingers was rejected by a board in Tamil Nadu but went to Kerala for counselling for the All-India quota and was selected. The NMC has failed to identify at least one assessment centre in each state though the apex court order in Oct last year stated that "the availability of medical boards should be increased so that there is minimum one medical board in each state and union territory for proper medical examination of students who have passed the examination". With just 16 centres in 11 states, candidates are forced to spend considerable amounts on travelling, food and lodging. "There appears to be very poor sensitisation in the boards on how to deal with candidates with disabilities. A board in Chennai referred to the candidate as "patient" while rejecting her saying that she is "wheelchair bound". How will they select when they see her as a patient?" said Dr Satendra Singh, founder of Doctors With Disabilities: Agents of Change, India's largest network of health professionals with disabilities. This is despite the Supreme Court order stating: "To enable members of the Disability Assessment Boards to effectively apply the functional competency test, they must be adequately trained by professionals and persons with disabilities or those who have worked on disability justice". It further mandated that each disability assessment board include at least one doctor with a disability. Although counselling commenced on 21 July 2025, no training schedule for members of the disability assessment boards has been published and no directive has been issued mandating the inclusion of a doctor with a disability on the boards. "The NMC had agreed in court to change the name of the boards from Disability Assessment Boards to Ability Assessment Boards to reflect the change in the focus of the assessments, but that term is nowhere there in the interim guidelines. Candidates with disabilities are paying the price and not everyone can afford to go to court," said Dr Singh, who has written to the NMC and the DGHS. He added that the interim guidelines were inadequate, though NMC's expert committee had taken nine months to frame them in time for the 2025-26 academic year.
New Indian Express
18-07-2025
- Health
- New Indian Express
No NMC norms for admission of students with disabilities yet
NEW DELHI: The NEET-UG counselling for 2025 is scheduled to begin on July 21. However, thousands of medical students with disabilities are in a dilemma as they are still awaiting the revised admission guidelines. It is not just the revised disability guidelines that the National Medical Commission (NMC) has yet to release, despite Supreme Court directions to issue them much before the MBBS admission process was to begin. There is no clarity on the number of disability assessment centres, which evaluate individuals with disabilities, determine their needs and eligibility, and accordingly reissue disability certificates. Speaking with this paper, Dr Satendra Singh, a prominent disability activist, said, 'The NMC recently issued guidelines on student mental health, but what about the extreme stress, anxiety, and uncertainty faced by approximately 3,673 NEET-qualified candidates with disabilities?' 'The continued delay in issuing revised disability guidelines directly violates at least three Supreme Court judgments. Shouldn't the Supreme Court initiate contempt proceedings against the NMC and the DGHS (Directorate General of Health Services) for their willful non-compliance?' Dr Singh, who has been besieged by calls and messages from parents and anxious students suffering from disabilities like locomotor disability, visual impairment, hearing impairment, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) etc, which was to be included in the new guidelines as mandated by the apex court, said NMC should have placed these guidelines at least a month before the admission process was to begin to allow stakeholders to give their feedback.
Indian Express
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
When will disabled NEET aspirants get their SC-sanctioned rights?
Written by Satendra Singh A NEET aspirant with a disability has been messaging me continually since March. Her only question: 'When will the National Medical Commission (NMC) issue revised disability guidelines for MBBS and MD/MS, as per the Supreme Court's directions?' On 14 June 2025, the NEET-UG results were declared. Over 750 students with disabilities from diverse communities — General, OBC, SC, ST, and EWS — have qualified. However, their joy is short-lived. The silence of the NMC and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has left them paralysed by uncertainty. Which guidelines will apply? Have more disability assessment centres been designated? Which colleges can they safely choose? The promised web portal listing accessibility-compliant colleges — as ordered by the apex court — is still absent. This is not merely a bureaucratic delay. It seems to be a defiance of the Supreme Court's orders, a betrayal of India's constitutional promise of equality, and perhaps even contempt of court. In April 2022, the Delhi High Court in Neha Pudil vs NMC directed that the discriminatory disability guidelines be revised within six months. Two years later, that direction remains unimplemented. Then in October 2024, the Supreme Court in Omkar Ramchandra Gond vs UOI mandated the NMC to revise its guidelines before the NEET 2025 brochure was published and to establish an Appellate Medical Body. The brochure was released, but the guidelines and the body were not. In the same month, in another landmark judgment — Om Rathod vs DGHS — the apex court went further, ordering the establishment of enabling units for reasonable accommodations, accessibility compliance details on the NEET portal, functional support, including assistive technology, modified pedagogy, and trained staff. None of these directives has been followed. By November 2024, the situation was so dire that the Supreme Court had to summon the DGHS in Anmol vs UOI. Only after the embarrassment of public scrutiny did Anmol receive his rightful MBBS seat. Still, the DGHS has ignored directions to establish Disability Assessment Boards (DABs) in every state and to include doctors with disabilities in these boards, as well as provide them with training on disability justice and ableism. Following the SC's lead, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in January also ordered the formation of an Appellate Board. The NMC ignored that, too. In February 2025, the apex court finally struck down the infamous 'both hands intact' clause as ableist and left scope for further compliance review. But in March, the Suyash Patil case exposed the NMC's indifference again: the student lost an entire academic year due to a clerical lapse in DAB records. The NMC's solution? Accommodate next year. Even when the NMC did form a committee, it stuffed it with the same architects of the old discriminatory policy. Tokenism ruled: just one doctor with a disability, from an institution outside the NMC's purview, with no undergraduate programme. Expectedly, this committee missed its 15 April deadline to publish the revised guidelines. Then came May, and the Kabir Paharia case. The Supreme Court gave relief only one day before NEET 2025. Another student was rescued. Another year lost. Another trauma inflicted. As of today, both the NMC and DGHS have violated their affidavit in the Anmol matter, which had promised to release guidelines by 15 April 2025. NEET 2025 results are out. But disabled aspirants are frozen in limbo, deprived of the ability to plan or hope. Worse, the very committee revising the guidelines includes no medical student with a disability. This is a violation not just of principles of participatory justice, but also of international norms. The World Federation for Medical Education — to which NMC is affiliated — mandates in its Basic Medical Standards (2020) under Clauses 4 and 8 that students must be involved in governance. What we are witnessing is institutionalised impunity. The NMC and DGHS have now routinely defied not just one, but multiple High Court and Supreme Court directives. Why then has no contempt proceeding been initiated? Justice delayed is not only justice denied — it becomes injustice institutionalised. Every day of inaction from the NMC and DGHS is a day of stolen dreams, heightened anxiety, and unconstitutional discrimination against India's most marginalised NEET qualifiers. It is now imperative that the Supreme Court's vacation bench takes suo motu cognisance of this deliberate, systemic, and continuing contempt — and that real accountability, not symbolic compliance, is finally enforced. The writer teaches at the University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi, and is a disability rights activist. Views are personal
The Hindu
04-06-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Will new MBBS curriculum equip doctors for today's challenges?
India has the largest number of medical colleges in the world, with over 700 recognised institutions. It is also a major exporter of medical graduates, with over 7.3% of its domestic medical workforce working abroad in countries including the U.K., U.S., Canada, and Australia, among others. While out-of-pocket expenditure on health remains very high in India, the country faces a unique burden of health problems due to factors like high population density, economic disparities, and limited access to healthcare, particularly in rural areas. These problems persist despite the many welfare schemes brought in by the Central Government, including Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). Dependence on private sector healthcare remains high. India is battling a high prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and maternal and perinatal health challenges. It is also prone to new outbreaks like COVID, while battling nutritional deficiency and wasting, and bearing the brunt of an obesity epidemic. India's healthcare system faces this complex landscape while balancing the public and private sectors to address a vast and diverse population. In this context, a robust, dynamic, inclusive MBBS syllabus is the base level needed to ensure that dependable and adaptable healthcare is given to even the poorest of the poor. For this, the government has increased spending and expanded public welfare coverage while ensuring that the MBBS syllabus is revised to tailor-make it to the country's current needs. The Union Health Ministry on April 23, 2025 launched new competency-based curricula for 10 allied healthcare professions in collaboration with the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP). The curricula will cover a broad spectrum of professions, such as Physiotherapy; Applied Psychology and Behavioural Health; Optometry; Nutrition and Dietetics; Dialysis Therapy Technology and Dialysis Therapy; Radiotherapy Technology; Medical Radiology and Imaging Technology; Anaesthesia and Operation Theatre Technology; Health Information Management; and Physician Associates. Aimed at bringing uniformity to training of allied healthcare professionals across the country, the new curricula is designed to produce globally competent professionals to address the increasing prevalence of diseases and the growing demand for allied services. To discuss these changes and how they will change the ecosystem of medical education in India, The Hindu will host a webinar titled, 'Will new MBBS curriculum equip doctors for today's challenges?', on June 7, at 5:00 p.m. Register now for free to ask questions and interact with the panellists. Those who ask the three best questions will receive a free online subscription to The Hindu. The panellists include Prof. (Dr.) Uma Kumar, Founder & Head Department of Rheumatology, AIIMS Delhi; Dr. Satendra Singh, Director & Professor of Physiology, UCMS, Delhi; and Prof. (Dr.) Ravi Wankhedkar, Prof of Surgery & Head of Coloproctology, SBH Govt Medical College, Dhule. The webinar will be moderated by M. Kalyanaraman, who heads the education vertical at The Hindu. Panellists Prof. (Dr.) Uma Kumar, Founder Head Department of Rheumatology, AIIMS, Delhi Dr. Kumar entered medical school in 1985. After doing MBBS and MD, she joined AIIMS, Delhi in 1996 as a senior resident doctor and became faculty in 2001 in the department of Medicine. She created the Rheumatology Department at AIIMS, New Delhi in 2015. She pioneered the concept of Day Care in Rheumatology in India in 2012. She has published more than 200 research papers and book chapters in various national and international journals and books. She serves on the editorial board of several international and national journals, including Dermatologic Manifestations in Rheumatologic Diseases, Arthritis: Myths and Facts, and more. Dr. Satendra Singh, Director-Professor of Physiology at UCMS, Delhi Dr. Satendra Singh is the Director-Professor of Physiology at the University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital, Delhi. He is co-chair of the International Council for Disability Inclusion in Medical Education, Commissioner at the Lancet's first-ever Commission on Disability and Health, and a member of the National Human Rights Commission. He won the National Award from the President of India and the National Award for Medical Humanities. He is a disability justice advocate who has brought many policy reforms, including the inclusion of disability competencies in the new medical curriculum in India and a ban on unnecessary surgeries in intersex children. Prof. (Dr.) Ravi Wankhedkar, Prof of Surgery & Head of Coloproctology, SBH Govt Medical College, Dhule Prof. Dr. Ravi Wankhedkar, MBBS, MS, FIAMS, FCGP, is a practicing surgeon and ano-rectal specialist with over 35 years of clinical experience. He currently serves as Professor of Surgery and Head of the Coloproctology Department at SBH Government Medical College in Dhule. Alongside his academic and clinical responsibilities, he is the Chairman of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), National Health Scheme, and functions as an examiner for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in general surgery. Throughout his career, Dr. Wankhedkar has held several positions in national and international medical organisations. He served as Treasurer of the World Medical Association from 2019 to 2023 and was President of the SAARC Medical Association between 2018 and 2020. In 2018, he held the post of IMA National President. (For any suggestions or feedback, please reach out to us at education@
Business Standard
23-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Syrma SGS Tech inks pact with Dynabook for manufacturing laptops in India
Syrma SGS Technology said that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Dynabook Singapore Pte. Ltd. for manufacturing laptops in India. Dynabook Singapore is leading commercial PC brand in Japan. It provides a portfolio of B2B laptop computers to meet diverse customer requirements. As part of this collaboration, Syrma SGS will manufacture Dynabooks diverse range of laptops in India, supporting the Governments 'Make in India' vision. This initiative is designed to meet the varied demands of enterprise customers and commercial channels across the country, providing world-class laptops with Dynabook's renowned technology and expertise to government and public sector undertakings. Satendra Singh, CEO of Syrma SGS Technology, said: It is a moment of pride for us to associate with Dynabook, a well-known Japanese brand. This alignment will offer more choices to customers in India under the central government's 'Make in India' initiative. Dynabook's expertise in technology and high-class manufacturing will result in the best products for Indian customers and beyond. Syrma SGS Technology manufactures various electronic sub-assemblies, assemblies and box builds, disk drives, memory modules, power supplies/adapters, fiber optic assemblies, magnetic induction coils and RFID products, and other electronic products. The scrip rose 0.69% to currently trade at Rs 541.95 on the BSE.
