The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued guidelines for internship completion, post COVID-19 lockdown, for MBBS students. The deadline for completion of internship has been extended to May 31, 2021 in order to compensate for the lost period of training, called "clinical clerkship", due to lockdown. The NMC had earlier instructed medical colleges across the country to take steps to reopen on or before December 1.
Earlier the internship was scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2021. Due to the curbs imposed to control the spread of the virus, the internship programme for MBBS students had to be halted. Clinical clerkship is a critical element of the medical internship to get hands-on experiences and skills, hence the medical colleges have been directed to ensure timely completion of internship by all the students.
The NMC issued new “Guidelines for Internship Completion (Post Covid-19 lockdown)” on December 9.
Guidelines For Institutes To Hold Internship Programme
Institutes must release a revised internship schedule for their students.
Colleges and individual departments, where the interns would rotate must ensure that trainees acquire key clinical competencies.
The onus of ensuring that interns complete their training satisfactorily lies on their respective institutes.
The internship guidelines have been stated in the “Graduate Medical Education Regulations” manual. Post completion of the internship programme, students will be issued internship completion certificates.
