“This is the second time that NMC has come out with guidelines for assessing disability at the last moment, without giving the usual 30-day time for stakeholder consultation,” said Dr Satendra Singh, a disability rights activist. A doctor living with disability, Dr Singh was an expert in two of the key Supreme Court cases in this regard.
While the dates for counselling for this year are yet to be announced, the interim guidelines were released just two days before the process started in 2025.

The body is yet to come up with similar assessment guidelines for post-graduate medical courses.
The new guidelines also do not mention that the assessment boards should have a doctor with disability, as recommended by the court.

A significant change this time as compared to last year’s interim guidelines is that the assessment boards have been asked to record in writing the reasons a candidate has been considered to be ineligible.

Other changes in the new guidelines are:

– The new guidelines refer to the ‘disability certificates’, which medical aspirants with disability had to apply for each year, as ‘eligibility certificate’ now. “…it is intended to certify the candidate’s eligibility or otherwise for admission to the MBBS course,” the guideline says.

– The number of assessment centres has been increased from 16 to 61. “For years, candidates with disability had to travel to different states to get the certificate as there were only 16 designated centres across the country. We argued that no other aspirant needs to travel for the admission process, then why should it be different for candidates with disability? Now the number of centres have been increased, though it is still not (the case) in all states,” said Dr Singh. The guideline says that “further expansion” of the number of centres is possible.

– Three, the guidelines, for the first time, mention reasonable accommodation. “Prior to declaring a candidate ineligible, the Medical Assessment Board shall examine whether reasonable accommodation, assistive technology, adaptive devices or appropriate infrastructural support would enable the candidate to successfully pursue and complete the MBBS course,” the guidelines state.

– Further, it says if a candidate is still determined to be ineligible, the board has to record in writing: the nature and extent of disability, the findings of functional competency assessment, reasonable accommodations that can be considered, reasons for determining a candidate’s eligibility or ineligibility, and the final recommendation of the board. Dr Singh says: “Now a person cannot be disqualified arbitrarily as the board will have to record the reason.”

– Four, an appellate mechanism will be set up by the Directorate General of Health Services. Any aspirant wishing to challenge the findings of the board can go to the appellate authority. So far, students just had to go from one assessment board to another to get a decision in their favour. “The Appellate Authority shall pass a reasoned and speaking order, clearly recording the basis for affirming, modifying, or setting aside the findings of the Medical Assessment Board,” the guidelines state.