Overview
- The National Medical Commission issued two instruments on July 27 directing every NMC‑regulated medical college to set up an Enabling Unit and publishing revised PwBD guidelines for MBBS admissions.
- Enabling Units must act as a single point of contact to arrange reasonable accommodation, academic and clinical support, improve campus accessibility, publicise contact details at admission, and keep confidential records of requests.
- The guidelines replace percentage‑based screening with individual, competency‑ and function‑oriented assessments, rename the disability certificate an "eligibility certificate," expand designated assessment centres from 16 to 61, and require written reasons when a candidate is found ineligible.
- Boards must test whether assistive technology, adaptive devices, infrastructural support, or other reasonable accommodations would enable a candidate to complete MBBS, and candidates can appeal decisions to an authority to be set up by the DGHS.
- Rights groups and some experts welcomed the substance but criticised the timing after Re‑NEET results and the lack of the usual 30‑day stakeholder consultation, and they warned that unclear definitions of clinical accommodations and limited college resources could curb the reforms' practical impact.