Not backdoor entry but luck of the draw, says NBE

Not backdoor entry but luck of the draw, says NBE

DNB Seats: ‘Strictly Going By Principles Of Relocation’

Rema.nagarajan@timesgroup.com

20.01.2021 

The National Board of Examination has responded to an article in TOI about two candidates with very low ranks being given DNB seats in some of the most sought after institutions stating that these were not a case of “backdoor entry”.

According to NBE, after allotting these students immunohaematology and blood transfusion in Nayati Hospital in Mathura, when the accreditation to the hospital was withdrawn, it was found that there were no vacant seats in the same specialty available anywhere in 2020 and in the three years before that.

Since all rounds of counselling including the mop-up round were completed, “as a last resort and in the interest of the trainees as there was no fault of the trainees in this matter and they could not have been allowed to suffer, NBE allowed them to choose their specialty and seat from the vacant available left over seats”.

The NBE statement said it is “strictly adhering” to its principles of relocation of doctors and that there was no discrimination or backdoor entry. During the relocation process, some candidates are adversely affected due to nonavailability of seats in their preferred institute and may get allocated to an institute not at par with the institute they were originally assigned, it stated. It added that such unavoidable circumstances were created due to a few vacant seats being left at the end of counselling and the inability to create extra seats in any other NBE accredited hospitals “as it would be discriminatory and prejudicial to the other candidates who participated in the merit-based counselling and would never have a chance to opt for the extra seats so created”.

In some cases, candidates got better options when relocated due to availability of vacant seats which were not available during original allotment, stated NBE, adding that “since relocation is an exceptional and undesirable situation, it can have some aggrieved candidates who are adversely affected by such relocation”.

The NBE statement does not refute any of the facts in the TOI article except to reject the accusation of some DNB candidates about two candidates with poor ranks being given “backdoor entry” into highly sought-after institutions and specialties.

One of the candidates relocated from Nayati Hospital with rank 34,655 was given a radiodiagnosis seat in Ganga Ram Hospital, considered one of the best in the country for DNB training. Post graduate seats in radio diagnosis, one of the most high-demand specialties, cost crores in private medical colleges. The other with rank 36,335 was given an ophthalmology seat in Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, a government hospital in Delhi. Ophthalmology too is a high demand specialty and government hospitals are among the top preferences of DNB candidates as there is no worry of non-payment of stipend (Rs 70,000 plus in Delhi) and there are enough patients.

The NBE had received complaints about Nayati Hospital from students from the second half of 2019 onwards and from the Association of DNB Doctors in November 2019 after the students’ complaints were not heeded. However, the NBE conducted an inspection only in August 2020. It claims the delay in inspection was due to Covid, though the complaints pre-date Covid by several months. Further, despite the inspection being completed in August, the DNB seats in Nayati Hospital were included even in the mop-up round, when these two candidates were allotted there. The seats of several other institutions whose accreditation was withdrawn were removed from the mop-up round. Nayati's accreditation was withdrawn only on October 9, after all the students had been allotted the hospital.

Till date, the NBE has not put out its policy of relocation of candidates or even a final list of how many candidates were relocated each year and to which institutions in the public domain. So candidates do not know what principles NBE has used to make these relocations.

NBE claims that guidelines for relocation have been passed by the accreditation committee and governing body of NBE this year, but they are yet to be put in the public domain.

The NBE statement also accused this correspondent of not waiting for a response from the board. The fact is that the report was published two weeks after sending mails and messages to the NBE after it failed to respond.

The association of DNB doctors have complained to the NBE about the arbitrary allocation of the two candidates to premier institutions in Delhi “without any formal counselling, which is against merit and principle of justice”