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The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) has released the draft amendment for the 2022 regulations on minimum standards of undergraduate courses in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Sowa-Rigpa, with proposed changes in admission, curriculum, training and teacher's qualification, among others.
According to the draft released by the NCISM on September 19, for the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) course, the eligibility criteria for admission has been proposed to change include candidates who passed 10+2 or its equivalent with biotechnology also, apart from physics, chemistry and biology.
While the 2022 regulation had an upper limit for candidates, the draft amendment removes the upper age limit for admission, stipulating that the candidates should be at the age of 17 years on or before December 31 of the year of admission in the first year of the programme.
The draft amendment omits the provisions in the existing regulation, which enables NCISM in consultation with the Central Government to lower the minimum marks required for admission to the undergraduate programme if there is sufficient number of candidates in the respective category fail to secure minimum marks in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
The draft amendment also recommends that in case of non-availability of eligible candidates under the seats reserved for the persons with disabilities in any category, the unfilled seats shall be converted into the general category of All India Quota seats or State Quota seats.
In terms of curriculum, the draft suggests inclusion of new sub-regulations assigning the Board of Ayurveda to come out with Competency based course curriculum and syllabus from time to time subject to modification with the changing healthcare scenario and the requirement of the time.
The College or Institute shall organise educational tours during respective professional sessions as per the requirement of the respective subjects.
The educational tour may comprise Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certified ayurvedic drug manufacturing unit having research and development section, National Accreditation Board for Laboratory (NABL) Quality Control/Quality Assurance lab, preferably at Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, well established Herbal Garden, forensic laboratory, Centre of Excellence of Ayurveda, and National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) Accredited Ayurveda Hospitals.
The amendment substitutes the existing provisions to the effect that each elective subject shall be of forty-five hours duration and divided in five modules and each module shall have nine hours i.e., five hours of teaching, three hours of guided learning, and one hour of assessment and in total, each elective shall have twenty-five hours of teaching, fifteen hours of guided learning and five hours of assessment.
If a student fails in theory or practical or both, it shall be treated as failed in the subject and in such case, the student shall appear for both theory and practical examinations.
Students have to qualify a minimum of three elective courses for each professional session and shall have to qualify a minimum of nine electives courses before appearing in the third professional university examination. Qualifying minimum three elective courses per professional session shall not be the prerequisite for appearing in first and second professional university examination.
In case, if a student does not qualify the minimum three elective courses during the respective professional session but qualifies during later professional sessions, the marks of those electives shall not be added to the viva marks of respective subjects.
The draft also proposes amendments related to teachers' qualification for the BAMS courses.
Similarly, the NCISM has released draft amendment regulations for the Minimum Standard of Undergraduate education in Siddha, Unani and Sowa-Rigpa.
The Commission invited comments from the public in general and experts, stakeholders, institutes and organisations. The comments with justification should be sent to the concerned officials within one month from the date of public notice, that is on or before October 18, 2023.
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