Controversy over MBBS syllabus! NMC had to take back its steps, what was the government going to teach medical students

What was in the CBME medical education guidelines?

The decision to withdraw the guidelines comes after protests from transgender and disability rights groups. The groups had criticised the new guidelines for MBBS students. They called them discriminatory and biased towards transgender and differently-abled persons. The guidelines were said to promote “ableist” and “transphobic” approaches to medical studies.

Amendments were sought to the new competency-based medical education (CBME) guidelines for medical education in India as they were not in line with global standards. They also violate recent legal precedents enacted in India. They included terms such as 'sodomy', 'lesbianism' and 'transvestism' as sexual offences. These are classified as 'unnatural' sexual offences. In addition, the guidelines classify cross-dressing as a “perversion”, placing it alongside serious crimes such as 'voyeurism' and 'necrophilia'.

against the order of the court

These guidelines of the NMC also contradict the 2018 Supreme Court verdict that decriminalised homosexual relations by scrapping Section 377 of the IPC. It also contradicts the progressive stance taken by India on LGBTQ+ rights. The move also reverses a 2022 Madras High Court order that rejected such a classification.

The National Medical Commission has written in the new notice, 'The circular dated 31 August 2024, which talked about issuing CBME 2024 guidelines, is withdrawn and canceled with immediate effect. These guidelines will be revised and uploaded again in the coming time.'