BS RAWAT
NEW DELHI : In view of the shortage of specialty doctors in India, the apex healthcare industry body-NATHEALTH has urged the NITI Aayog to consider a slew of reforms which would allow private hospitals to offer Diplomate of National Board (DNB) seats to their true capacity and potential.

“The objective of increasing the number of DNB seats can be met with greater participation from the private sector. The challenges and opportunities have been identified in the private sector which can be explored to create a desirable ecosystem for the private hospitals to be inclined to invite more DNB students,” NATHEALTH has said in a statement.

Apart from making modifications to the bed-to-specialty ratio clause, NATHEALTH recommends inclusion of new courses in various streams like non-surgical, non-interventional specialties like dialysis, non-invasive cardiology, diabetology, etc. in order to increase the number of specialists.

NATHEALTH President Dr. H. Sudarshan Ballal said, “We have a large main unit in Manipal Hospitals but multiple smaller satellite units which do not qualify independently, but have the capacity as a chain to expand the intake of DNB students significantly.”

“Hospitals need to employ full time doctors for the DNB program. About 50% of the faculty could be part time. Diplomas are not considered eligible for faculty nominations for DNB program. If diplomas can be considered for faculty it would be easier to expand seats,” said NATHEALTH Secretary General Siddhartha Bhattacharya.

NATHEALTH has also recommended that MoUs can be signed with accredited private hospitals having excellent track record in conducting DNB programs in District Hospitals/ Charitable hospitals on a fee sharing basis, if required. This will greatly help in increasing the number of DNB seats in the country by bringing more capacity under the ambit of DNB programs and better utilization of existing training infrastructure.