Ist DM Neonatology course to start at GMCH, Aurangabad, gets MCI nod

Aurangabad: The Medical Council of India (MCI) has approved the first super specialty course for Neonatology at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH)in the state. This first sanction by the national regulator makes the hospital the Ist ever state-run college with a super-specialty doctorate of medicine (DM) course in neonatology.

On Tuesday, the GMCH Dean, Kanan Yelikar, confirmed the MCI to have approved one seat for the course.

Elaborating on the process of applying for the course, Head, Department, Neonatology, LS Deshmukh, said, GMCH had applied for the course in July 2017.This was followed by the state government and the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) giving their consents for the super-specialty course after on-ground an inspections.

Their approval was followed by a lot of documentation. “The MCI conducted one inspection each in 2017 and 2018 at the hospital to check the availability of faculty, medical facilities and ICU equipment needed for the course after which it gave the approval,” Deshmukh told TOI. With a letter of permission(LoP) expected from the central government, the course will commence from August 2018.

“This super-specialty course is available at some of the privately-run medical colleges, but it is for the first time that a government medical college in the state will run the course,” Deshmukh revealed to TOI.

Giving details about the course, Deshmukh said that healthcare of infants less than a month old will be studied in great detail under the course. “At our neonatology intensive care unit (NICU), we work with premature babies, difficulties in delivery, birth defects and the care required for children for the first 30 days. Paediatrics broadly deals with children,” he elaborated.

“The candidates with postgraduate in paediatrics (MD paediatrics) will be eligible for the course and the candidate will be selected through NEET,” Deshmukh said.

The faculty comprising of 3 would include Associate Professor, Amol Joshi, and Assistant Professor Atul Londe along with Deshmukh.