To address the scarcity of specialist doctors in district hospitals, the Centre has revived post-graduate diploma courses that one can pursue by clearing the NEET-PG exam after completing MBBS.

Hospitals with a minimum of 100 operational beds are eligible to seek accreditation with National Board of Examinations (NBE) for the diploma courses.

The NBE, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Health has launched post-MBBS two-year diploma courses in eight broad specialities- anesthesiology, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, family medicine, ophthalmology, radiodiagnosis, ENT and tuberculosis, and chest disease.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) had in 2019 converted its diploma courses into degree courses to overcome the shortfall of teaching faculty in the country.

To fill the void caused by discontinuing the MCI diploma courses, the health ministry had asked the National Board of Examinations to look into the possibility of launching the diploma courses under its aegis, an NBE official said.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, the weakness and shortcomings of primary and secondary healthcare delivery system became obvious, thereby putting an extra burden on tertiary care health centres with medical colleges being converted into dedicated COVID care and treatment centres.

"It was, therefore, imperative to augment the hospitals catering to the population in rural, semi-urban areas, and tier-two and tier-three cities," Professor Pawanindra Lal, the Executive Director of NBE said.