National Medical Commission withdraws new MBBS curriculum

After facing backlash, National Medical Commission on Thursday rolled back its recently issued 'Guidelines under Competency Based Medical Education Curriculum (CBME) 2024', said the official order.

"It is informed that the Circular of even number dated 31.08.2024 thereby issuing Guidelines under Competency Based Medical Education Curriculum (CBME) 2024, stands “WITHDRAWN AND CANCELLED” with immediate effect. The above guidelines will be revised and uploaded in due course," said NMA in an official statement.

Earlier, the commission had released new guidelines for the Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) curriculum for MBBS students, set to be implemented from the 2024-25 academic year.


Backlash over new curriculum:
A row erupted over NMC’s reintroduction of ‘sodomy and lesbianism’ as unnatural sexual offences in the curriculum for UG medical students, with two international organisations threatening to seek NMC’s suspension over it.

Two international organisations that work for disability inclusion in medical education and for transgender health, respectively, have threatened to complain to the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) seeking temporary suspension of the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) recognition by the world body for violation of existing laws to protect the rights of persons with disabilities and LGBTQ+ in the recently released medical education curriculum.

The International Council for Disability Inclusion in Medical Education and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) expressed dismay at “the outright ableist, transphobic new CBME guidelines released by NMC which are against both the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPDA), 2016, and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act (TPA), 2019.”

What was mentioned in new curriculum?
The National Medical Commission has reintroduced ‘sodomy and lesbianism’ as unnatural sexual offences in the forensic medicine and toxicology curriculum for undergraduate medical students.

It has also brought back topics such as the hymen and its type, and its medico-legal importance besides defining virginity and defloration, legitimacy and its medico-legal importance. These subjects were done away with in 2022 in accordance with a Madras high court directive.

The revised curriculum under forensic medicine and toxicology also includes ‘Describe legal competencies including Bharatiya Nagarika Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA)’ besides ‘Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso), Civil and Criminal Cases, Inquest (Police Inquest and Magistrate’s Inquest), cognisable and Non-cognisable offences’.

The amended curriculum has done away with the seven-hour training on disability.

At the end of teaching-learning in forensic medicine and toxicology, the student should be able to understand the medico-legal framework of medical practice, codes of conduct, medical ethics, professional misconduct and medical negligence, conducting medico-legal examination and documentation of various medico-legal cases and understand latest Acts and laws related to medical professional including related court judgements, the NMC said.

(with agency inputs)