In a strongly worded letter to Thawar Chand Gehlot, Minister for
Social Justice & Empowerment, the National Platform for
the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) has asked for the Ministry’s
intervention in the various issues surrounding the admissions to
undergraduate and postgraduate courses in medicine.
This comes in response to the revised regulations issued by the
Board of Governors, Medical Council of India that bar
certain categories of disabled people from pursuing medicine. Guidelines that
as the letter points, out violate the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities Act, 2016.
The NPRD had earlier written about the same matter in relation to
undergraduate admissions to the Minister of Health & Family
Welfare, J P Nadda. That letter, dated 13 February, is yet to
receive a response. Despite the outrage that generated, the notification for
PG Counselling 2019 that followed shows a similar disregard for provisions of
the RPWD Act.
The notification for PG Counselling directs aspirants to “get themselves
assessed for their disability and obtain a Disability Certificate from any
one of the designated Disability Centre…. to secure admission under 5%
quota for candidates with benchmark disabilities….”. This is in addition
to the disability certificate issued by a certifying authority from the state
to which the candidate belongs. As the NPRD points out, this has been
mentioned despite Section 59 (3) of the Act explicitly stating
that the disability certificate should be held valid across India.
In its letter, the NPRD points to a similar move in 2017 by the
Ministry of Railways to launch a separate Disability Card
for disabled people despite the MSJE’s decision to issue a universally
valid ID card for the community. There were objections raised by the NPRD to
this on the grounds that this would entail hardships as disabled people would
have to carry multiple cards.
The MCI move is pushing disabled candidates into a similar corner.
Now with the UDID being rolled out and the RPD Act providing that a
certificate issued under Section 59 would be valid throughout the country
(it makes no exemption or distinction as to where or for what purpose it
will not be valid), the insistence of a second certificate from another
authority is a clear violation of the law. Needless to say, this also
invites untold hardships to aspiring disabled candidates. –
National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD)
The NPRD has urged the MSJE to intervene urgently to ensure that the
provisions of RPWD Act are “implemented in letter and spirit”.
“We seek your urgent intervention to see that during the counselling for
various medical courses, the certificate issued by the central government
notified authority in the states is accepted and the need to get an
additional certificate from another agency as notified by the MCI is done
away with”.
SM from Haryana, who does not wish to be identified, is
among the many students who approached the Supreme Court last year after his
MBBS admission was rejected by the Haryana government in spite of them making
it to the merit list under the physically handicapped category. “It is
disheartening and depressing that despite the various Supreme Court orders,
the MCI continues to discriminate against disabled students. When I qualified
for NEET last year, I was told to get a second disability certificate from
Safdarjung Hospital although I had a valid one already. This is unjust”.
Abha Khetarpal, disability rights activist and counsellor,
says the MCI attitude smacks of regression.
“These MCI guidelines are exclusionary and discriminatory, perpetuating the
stigma and stereotype of associating disability with illness and inefficiency
simply because they are neither trained nor sensitized enough to negotiate
with diversity”.
The outrage over the MCI’s repeated and overt biases is growing. How much
longer before the government takes note and acts?
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/21471
