Thesis approval not a must for postgraduate medical students to sit in exams, says NMC

New Delhi: India’s top medical education regulator has said that the approval and acceptance of thesis is not mandatory for students to appear in the final postgraduate examination—a move aimed at curbing mental health issues and ease work pressure.

Students will submit their thesis to the university through the head of department (HoD) and dean of the medical college, according to a letter Dr Vijay Oza, president of the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB), wrote to medical colleges.

“The student cannot be prevented from appearing in the examination if he has not obtained approval of thesis from HoD,” said the letter reviewed by Mint.

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The regulator’s directions are aimed at addressing concerns about mental health and alleged harassment of postgraduate medical students by HoDs. There have been incidents of students dying by suicide in Dehradun, Patiala and Bhopal. The NMC’s bid to ease pressure on students also comes in the backdrop of the ongoing agitation by the medical education community over the rape and murder of a young female doctor in Kolkata.

The PGMEB reminded medical colleges about the requirement to complete the final postgraduation examination by 31 December.

In a meeting with representatives from various health universities in July, the regulator was apprised of concerns about the dissertation and thesis being a prerequisite for appearing in the final examination for the postgraduation batch of 2021.

The regulator had clarified that, according to the provisions of Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER), 2023, all specialty and super-specialty students will conduct and write a thesis based on research.

“The thesis now accounts for 5% of the total marks in the clinical/practical and viva voce components, meaning 20 marks out of the total marks allocated for these components are reserved for the thesis,” Dr Oza wrote in the latest letter.

Earlier, there were no marks for thesis, but approval by the HoD or dean was a prerequisite to appear in the final examination. A student whose thesis was not approved couldn’t take the examination.

“External examiner outside the state will evaluate the thesis and take viva voce on it and marks will be given on quality of thesis and performance on its viva voce,” the letter said, adding that this change in the guidelines will help with the quality of thesis-related research work.

Queries emailed to the health ministry spokesperson remained unanswered.

Mental health worries

Mint earlier reported about 15.3% of the postgraduate medical students suffer from mental health disorders, with 31.2% found to have considered suicide, according to a survey conducted by the NMC.

The May survey of 5,337 postgraduate students revealed that around 51.8% of respondents faced challenges regarding their thesis-related work, while 11.6% experienced exploitation.

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About 8.2% students reported delays in thesis submission by their guides, which can contribute to increased stress and potentially impact their academic progress; 7.5% encountered requests for data manipulation, suggesting ethical concerns within certain thesis supervisory relationships.

The most common request was for better faculty guidance with 36.5% asking for it, followed by the desire to remove thesis altogether (23.4%). About 20.8% students desired extra time to complete their thesis and 12.7% sought financial support.