Civil Hospital receives first student for DNB course

AMRITSAR: Adding another feather to its cap the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial JBMM Civil Hospitals department of paediatrics has received its first student in DNB course starting this session

Updated At : 01:24 PM Jun 30, 2019 IST

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 29

Adding another feather to its cap, the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs’ Memorial (JBMM) Civil Hospital’s department of paediatrics has received its first student in DNB course starting this session. It will enable the Civil Hospital, which has been providing only medical care so far, to run academic course for future practitioners.

Earlier, the department had received accreditation from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for 2 DNB (Diplomate of National Board) seats. The accreditation has enabled the department to enrol MBBS students for three-year DNB course which is equivalent to MD in paediatrics. The department presently is eligible to enrol one student who has completed MBBS and cleared NEET examination. The second seat is for MBBS students who have also done diploma in paediatrics. In case of MBBS student with diploma, the DNB course will be of two years. However, it has not received a student with diploma this year so far.

Child specialist and head of paediatrics at the Civil Hospital, Dr Sandeep Aggarwal, said, “The accreditation was received after a rigorous selection process. It is a moment of great pride for us and we hope that the seats will be increased in future.” He said the achievement was made possible with the help of supporting departments, such as microbiology, pathology and blood bank.

Civil Surgeon Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai said, “To deal with the shortage of medical specialists, the government plans to convert civil hospitals into medical colleges. The selection of the hospital for running the course is a stamp on the hospital’s working which earlier has been declared best hospital in the state under Kayakalp project.”