Maharashtra government seeks guidelines for setting up medical board for disabled medical students

The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) in Maharashtra has written to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in New Delhi, asking about guidelines for setting up a special medical board.

This is as per the provisions in Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

The Maharashtra government gave this information to the Bombay High Court. The government says a special medical board will enable it to assess the disability of PWD (persons with disabilities) candidates, seeking admission to medical post graduate courses in 2018-2019.

The court will hear the matter after one week.

In a letter to the court, DMER said that candidates with 21 disabilities are finding it hard to get disability certificates from the four centers authorized by the Medical Counseling Committee in New Delhi.

The DMER has requested the DGHS in New Delhi, to allow them to fill the seats reserved for disabled candidates during the second round of state counseling for post graduate medical courses.

A medical student, Dr Faisal Ahmed Juned Pokar from Bhiwandi, who has an intellectual disability, had approached the court questioning the state government’s decision to appoint the All India Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AIIPMR) to assess intellectual disability for admission to postgraduate courses, under the disabled quota.

Pokar was seeking a medical certificate for his PG course, when he approached the enlisted institute for assessment of his disability at the AIIPMR.

The institute informed Pokar that their centre is authorised for assessment only for locomotor disabilities and therefore they cannot issue a certificate to a candidate with an intellectual disability.