J&K gets approval for 12 more DNB seats

Srinagar, May 31: To boost public healthcare, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Science (NBEMS) under DNB has sanctioned 12 more seats for the public institutions of J&K and these seats shall be in addition to earlier granted 270 DNB seats, officials said.
Officials of the health department said JLNM Hospital Srinagar has received approval for 2 seats in Orthopedics, GMC Rajouri has received approval for 2 seats in Paediatrics, DH Poonch has received approval for 2 seats in Surgery, DH Reasi 2 seats in General Medicine and Department of Anesthesiology, GMC Baramulla has been given accreditation for starting DNB courses with an intake of 4 PGs which including 2 primary DNB and 2 Secondary DNB seats per year.
Secretary Health & Medical Education Department, Bhupinder Kumar has congratulated the entire department for this achievement. He expressed happiness over the fact that even far-flung facilities like DH Poonch and DH Reasi have been able to start Post Graduate Courses in these hospitals.
Mission Director, NHM, J&K, Ayushi Sudan, said that the implementation of the DNB courses at the District Levels in J&K has been termed as a Best Practice in the Country.
Under DNB program in the UT, a total of 270 seats were granted to the accredited departments during session 2022 and start of 2023 consequent to the concerted efforts and hard work of the Administrative department H&ME J&K, NHM J&K and the team of health institutions being monitored by Bhupinder Kumar.
She informed that all the efforts are being made to scale up the DNB courses to all the District Hospitals and potential CHCs of J&K. “During the upcoming session, J&K is planning to submit more than 30 applications in all District Hospitals,” she said.
Earlier in March, 20 seats were approved in J&K in which Govt. Medical College Srinagar received approval for 2 seats in FNB Paediatric Anesthesia.
JLNM Hospital, Srinagar received 3 Post MBBS DNB seats in General Surgery, DH Udhampur received a sanction of 5 seats under Pediatrics, General Medicine and Orthopedics.
DH Poonch received 2 seats in General Medicine. DH Ganderbal got a sanction of 2 seats each in DNB General Medicine & Diploma Pediatrics. DH Kulgam received 2 seats in Family Medicine and CHC Kupwara got 2 seats in Diploma Pediatrics.
Pertinently, the DNB courses have been introduced in District Hospitals and new Govt. Medical Colleges besides old GMCs and SKIMS in order to strengthen the institutions, decongest the Govt. Medical Colleges and to address the shortage of specialists in J&K.
Officials said that the implementation of DNB courses has led to an equitable distribution of healthcare services and manpower especially in far-flung and hard-to-reach areas.
The DNB program has turned beneficial to the population which have very meager access to health care services in their areas, leading to low referrals from DNB institutions to Tertiary care institutions thereby further decreasing the out-of-pocket expenditure of the patients.