Jammu, March 20): In a major achievement for Healthcare Department in J&K, new Government Medical Colleges have been accredited by National Board of Examinations (NBE) for DNB courses in various departments.

By this, the accredited institutions will get two PG candidates in the certified stream every year. Upto now, 30 Super Specialty/ Broad Specialty courses have been approved by NBE which are likely to give 58 seats to J&K, which is over and above the DM/MCH and MD/MS courses already being run in Jammu & Kashmir.

Diplomate National Board (DNB) is a program said to be equivalent to that of the post-graduate and post-doctoral program in the field of medicine.

Officials said that in new GMCs, two seats have been granted by NBE to new GMC Doda in the department of Anesthesia, new GMC Kathua has been granted two seats in the department of Community Medicine and two seats in Pediatrics. two seats have been granted to new GMC Anantnag in the department of Dermatology, and provisional accreditation has been granted to new GMC Rajouri in the department of Orthopedics.

Additionally, in old GMCs/ SKIMS, GMC Jammu has also been granted accreditation in Hospital Administration & Psychiatry departments, GMC Srinagar in DrNB NeuroSurgery and SKIMS Srinagar has been granted accreditation in Anatomy & Physiology departments and 02 seats have been approved in each of these accredited department.

The DNB courses have been introduced in the 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.

Earlier in March 2020, District Hospital Gandhi Nagar Jammu became the first District Hospital in Union Territory of J&K to get 6 seats for DNB courses in Department of Medicine and Anesthesiology, pursuant to which DNB courses were started in the institution and candidates are pursuing PG in the Govt. Hospital Gandhi Nagar Jammu. A total of 42 seats were granted to the institutions of J&K and 21 candidates have already joined the various accredited streams.

Under the dynamic leadership and concerted efforts of Sh. Atal Duloo, Financial Commissioner, H&ME Department and Choudhary Mohammed Yasin, Mission Director, NHM, J&K, 08 District Hospitals and all GMCs/ SKIMS had applied for DNB courses to NBE and a total of 129 applications were submitted by the institutions, out of which 23 applications of old GMCs/ SKIMS, 5 applications of new GMCs and 2 applications of DHs have been approved by National Board of Examinations and a total of 58 seats have been granted to the accredited departments consequent to the concerted efforts and hard work of teams of the institutions.

Moreover, 28 more departments of DHs/ GMCs have been assessed by NBE and their accreditation is awaited.

For meeting the IPHS norms of Govt. of India in DNB Districts, NHM J&K has got additional sanction of Staff Nurses for DNB institutions and currently 42 additional nurses have also been provided to each District Hospital implementing DNB programme. Additional Beds along with the accessories and monitors have been provided to these District Hospitals by National Health Mission. Govt. of India has also approved establishment of 08 bedded Hybrid ICU in each DNB District Hospital.

These measures are expected to drastically improve the health care services in the far flung districts and shall improve the services in the tertiary care institutions as well.

This is also expected to markedly bring down the referral from the far flung districts to the already overburdened tertiary care institutes of J&K.