JK gets 14 more DNB seats

Srinagar, Dec 8: In yet another milestone for Health and Medical Department, the National Board of Examinations has accredited the General Medicine Department of Sub District Hospital (SDH), Kupwara, with approval of two seats in Medical Sciences (NBEMS).
In addition, NBEMS has approved 14 more seats for Government Medical Colleges and District Hospitals of Jammu and Kashmir raising the total P G seats approval for the UT to 140 which is above the DM/MCH and MD/MS courses already being run here.
The Government Medical Colleges of Kathua and Doda besides Community Health Center, Kupwara, have received approval for 2 seats each in General Medicine department while Government Medical Colleges Anantnag and Rajouri have got approval four seats each in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Besides, SKIMS Soura has received approval for 2 seats in the department of emergency medicine.
Mission Director National Health Mission, Yasin Choudhary, while giving details about the development said that a total of 164 applications have been submitted by various health institutions under Diplomat of National Board (DNB) programme in the UT, out of which, 53 applications have been approved till date against which 140 seats have been granted to the accredited departments. This has been possible consequent to the hard work of the administrative department H&ME, NHM and the team of health institutions being monitored by Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Medical Department, Vivek Bhardwaj, he added.
Pertinently, the DNB courses have been introduced in District Hospitals and new Government Medical Colleges besides old GMCs and SKIMS in order to strengthen the institutions, decongest the GMCs and address the shortage of specialists in J&K.
The DNB courses are expected to drastically improve the healthcare services in far flung districts of the UT besides improving services in the tertiary care institutions. This is also expected to bring down the referral from the far flung districts to already overburdened tertiary care institutes of J&K. (GNS)