National Board of Examinations
NBE/2009 Dated:
NOTICE
�� It is brought to notice of all applicants desirous of appearing in DNB examinations that the NBE shall be conducting examinations in year 2009 as per the calendar of examinations already published by NBE on 12th Jan 2009 at its website www.natboard.edu.in (copy of the same is enclosed herein for reference).
�� It may kindly be noted that there is no change in the above stated examination schedule and there no addition or deletion of any exam whatsoever in the above mentioned calendar.
�� The NBE remains committed to conduct the above mentioned examinations in time and shall strictly adhere to the timeframes and ensure adequate communication to applicants desirous of appearing in these exams.
�� It may also be noted that the information bulletin for the examinations conducted by NBE is made available on the website of NBE as and when released by NBE, copy of the information bulletin containing dates of exam, eligibility criteria, terms and conditions, results etc. can be downloaded free of cost from NBE website or obtained from selected branches of Indian Bank.
�� The next session of DNB Final examinations is being conducted by NBE on 12th and
�� A notice dated
�� All DNB candidates may kindly note that in a meeting held on 19th May 2009 under the chairmanship of former President Dr A Rajasekaran and attended by some former nominated members namely Dr Shyamprasad, Dr S Bhardwaj, Dr P Khanduri, Dr A Agarwal, Dr A Chatterjee, no official member of NBE was present in the aforesaid meeting. It was decided by them for inviting applications from DNB Super Specialties candidates for appearing in supplementary examinations (that were proposed for 11th and 12th July 2009 and the above notice was issued on the website of NBE on 28th May 2009 without any supporting information bulletin and in deviation from the calendar of examinations of NBE for year 2009 which was published well in advance).
�� The said website notice dated
�� The former Members had without assessing the preparation of NBE office for undertaking such mammoth exercise of conducting DNB Super Specialty examination in a period of less than 7 weeks had issued the said website notice.
�� More over no Bulletin of Information /prospectus was issued by them while issuing this misleading website notice. No attempt whatsoever was made by these former members
(Former President Dr A Rajasekaran, former nominated members namely Dr Shyamprasad, Dr S Bhardwaj, Dr P Khanduri, Dr A Agarwal, Dr A Chatterjee) to assess the feasibility to alter the calendar of examinations of NBE, availability of faculty, infrastructure and resources for the successful conduct of the above exam as well conducting the activities pertaining to various exams duly committed by NBE as per the calendar of exams published way back in Jan 2009. All prospective applicants may kindly note that the website notice dated
�� The term of former President and former nominated members has expired on
�� NBE is an autonomous body established by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India,
�� During this intervening period, from inception to date, the number of specialties in which the examinations are conducted have grown from 12 disciplines to 46 disciplines (2009), as well as the number of accredited institutions have increased from a mere 32 (1982) to 678 (5.6.2009). The number of DNB seats has increased from 1150 in May 2004 to 6512 in May 2009. NBE has regular staff strength of only 70.
Number of NBE accredited Hospitals326780100200300400500600700800121982 2009Number of Hospitals
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Number of DNB Seats0100020003000400050006000700012year 2004 2009Number of DNBSeats
�� At present NBE is conducting the following activities:
o DNB Final examinations in 28 post -graduate medical streams (Broad specialties)
o DNB Final examinations in 18 post -doctoral medical streams (Super specialties)
o FMGE examination (March and September every year with nearly 5,000 applicants, the processing of applications, eligibility, roll number generation, correspondence with candidates, preparation of question papers and other operational arrangements for declaration of results and sending results to candidates as per the SOPs etc.)
o CET Broad Specialties (Twice a year with nearly 14,000 applicants, the processing of applications, eligibility, roll number generation, correspondence with candidates etc. preparation of question papers and other operational arrangements for declaration of results and sending results to candidates as per the SOPs etc.)
o CET Super Specialties (Once a year, with sub specialty specific CET in 18 sub specialties and with nearly 1,200 applicants, the processing of applications, eligibility, roll number generation, correspondence with candidates etc. preparation of question papers and other operational arrangements for declaration of results and sending results to candidates as per the SOPs etc.)
o CET Fellowship (Once a year with subspecialty specific CET in 15 sub specialties and with nearly 600 applicants, the processing of applications, eligibility, roll number generation, correspondence with candidates etc. preparation of question papers and other operational arrangements for declaration of results and sending results to candidates as per the SOPs etc.)
o Fellowship examinations (Once a year in15 sub specialties and with nearly 150 applicants, the processing of applications, eligibility, roll number generation, correspondence with candidates etc preparation of question papers and other operational arrangements for
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declaration of results and sending results to candidates as per the SOPs etc.)
o Central evaluation of DNB Theory answer sheets ( Twice a year in various specialties, with correspondences with experts, arrangements for boarding and lodging, day to day monitoring as per the SOPs etc and other operational arrangements for declaration of results and sending results to candidates as per the SOPs etc. )
o Central counseling in Post doctoral fellowship seat allotments (usually two sessions) - organization of sessions, correspondences with experts and candidates etc.
o Declaration of result for theory examinations (Steps and documentations as per the SOPs etc.)
o Declaration of result for Practical examinations (Steps and documentations as per the SOPs etc.)
o Declaration of FMGE, CET, Fellowship results (Steps and documentations as per the SOPs etc.
o Processing of Theses (Nearly 2,500 theses are received per year) (Steps and documentations as per the SOPs etc.)
o Registration - Two sessions a year , nearly 5000 applications received and processed as per SOPs
o Accreditation- Nearly 250 fresh and renewal 600 applications are processed per year as per SOPs, the summary and agenda is prepared for accredited committee meetings and there after the correspondence with experts and hospitals etc as per SOPs.
o Appraisals: Introduction of six monthly appraisal system since 2005, which has now been well established and has been made mandatory from 2008 for all accredited hospitals. Appraisal of NBE hospitals and DNB candidates( Twice a year, selection of nearly 1800 experts, correspondence with 690 institutions and experts, receipt of appraisal retorts, their analysis and feed back to accredited hospitals etc as per the SOPs. etc)
o Annual Convocation: Convocation once a year, arrangements for notification to candidates, processing of requests for attending in person, printing of degrees and verification and certification as per SOPs, arrangements for venue, rehearsal, conducts of function etc. dispatch of degrees to in absentia candidates and follow up etc.
o Tele-contact: Handling more than 800 telephone calls from candidates on daily basis.
o Visitors: Interacting with 80 plus visitors every day.
o CME: Organizing CME’s for DNB candidates and consultants in the identified institutions. During the year 2008 nearly 78 CME programmes were organized in major cities- Delhi (Maulana Azad Medical College, St. Stephen Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Vardaman Mahavir Medical College, RR Hospital, Lady Harding Medical College, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Research Centre); Bangalore (St. John Medical College and Command Hospital AF); Hyderabad (Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, Osmania Medical College, Care Hospital); Chennai ( Madras Medical College, Kilpock Medical College, Southern railway Head Quarter Hospital); Pune (Command Hospital, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital & Research Centre and BJ Medical College)
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o Satellite Transmission: Interactive satellite based teleconferencing for DNB candidates and consultants on every Thursday from
o FM Broadcast: Interactive FM Radio counseling programmes for DNB candidates at 105.6 FM Gyan Vani for
o Study Material: Development of learning materials for DNB candidates and consultants in the form of DVDs. Nearly 350 topics are available.
o Journal: NBE journal of Postgraduate Medical Education, Training and Research. The journal gives DNB candidates access to editorials, commentaries, review articles, original articles, interesting case reviews, recent advances, book reviews etc. The journal was started in 2006 on quarterly basis covering various themes articles such as Thyroid, Breast, Cancers etc. It’s publication has increased to six issues per year during 2008, once in two months. It is sent to all accredited hospitals, institutions, and libraries. The journal is available free of cost on line at NBE website.
o NBE News letter -This is being published every quarterly since 2006. It provides a useful forum for sharing teaching and training experiences for NBE institutions, DNB candidates, as well as gives information on various activities of the Board.
o Updating of the question bank and initiation of the centralized assessment of theory papers in major specialties.
o Revision of competency based curriculum in the specialties of Medicine, OBG, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, ENT, Ophthalmology, Anesthesia, Radiology, Dermatology, Psychiatry
o Development/modification of curriculum and introduction of DNB Family Medicine, New Rules; DNB Rural Surgery( Pilot project)
o Accounts section deals with nearly 5000 TA/DA forms for experts as per SOPs etc. and receipts and processing of nearly 40,000 drafts per year.
o Dairy and dispatch section deals with 94,981 letters per year.
o Holding meetings of faculty, Governing Body, various committees of NBE, specialty groups, meetings related to confidential aspects of exam, conduct of exam, Exam Ethics etc. (around 300 meetings per year).
�� For the aforementioned activities, NBE is also interacting with more than 28,000 candidates annually, almost 3,000 faculty members, and approx. 1,000 institutes. Apart from forgoing, NBE is also organizing 250 number of examination centers for its various examinations.
�� For the aforementioned activities, NBE is also interacting with more than 28,000 candidates annually, almost 3,000 faculty members, and approx. 1,000 institutes. Apart from forgoing, NBE is also organizing 250 examination centers for its various examinations. The number of DNB seats has witnessed an increase of 600% from 1150 DNB seats in year 2004 to 6512 seats in year 2009. Evidently, the workload of NBE has increased correspondingly; however, the infrastructure and resources have not increased correspondingly.
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�� NBE at present does not have sufficient wherewithal, administrative machinery and logistical support to conduct the biannual or supplementary examination. NBE is dependent upon the faculty and infrastructure of other hospitals and medical colleges for conducting its DNB examinations. Conduct of exam is a sensitive issue and the aforesaid supplementary exam which is unplanned and unscheduled requires the involvement of around 70 faculty members and strict adherence to the guidelines for paper setting, preparation, evaluation, conduct, results etc. The feasibility study undertaken reveals that the conduct of such an exam is likely to derail the conduct of other examinations of NBE namely june 2009/December 2009 DNB and Sep 2009 FMG exams wherein around 22000 plus candidates will be appearing. The issue of biannual examination has been conclusively decided by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and Hon’ble Delhi High Court by their separate judgments.
�� In fact, the conduct of supplementary examination is in fact an inferior model for conducting biannual examination by circumventing the policy framed by the NBE and upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and Hon’ble Delhi High Court.
�� At NBE it is a matter of common knowledge that for preparation of question paper, NBE requires minimum four months time. It is not possible to frame the question paper for DNB Super Specialty within short span of 6-7 weeks and simultaneously gear up all the administrative machinery within three weeks of conduct of DNB Broad Specialty examination when the answer sheets and other examination material of DNB Broad Specialty examination are in transit. At this time the evaluation work for of DNB Broad Specialty and DNB CET examination has to commence. Hardly any time is left for conducting DNB Super Specialty Examination before the next session scheduled in December 2009.
�� As an examinations body of high standing NBE is duty bound to meticulously adhere to procedures and comply with judgments of courts, rules and regulations.
�� As per the calendar of examinations of NBE, the next examination in DNB super specialties will be conducted on 12th & 13th of December 2009. The information Bulletin and application form for the same is available on the website as well as available in selected branches of Indian Bank.
�� The regular calendar of examinations has been on the website and any addition to these activities would adversely affect the concurrent examination cycles as well as the planned cycles for December 2009/ January 2010.
�� NBE reiterates that as soon as it is able to overcome the lack of administrative and logistical resources, it would not hesitate to conduct biannual examinations in all the streams. NBE expects that DNB candidates would understand the position of NBE and would lend their support to make the degree of DNB more prestigious by their productive hard work. It is expected that the DNB candidates shall involve themselves in academic activities and not allow disgruntled elements to mislead them into unwarranted acts unbecoming of a responsible citizen and doctor.
�� NBE expresses its due apologies to the prospective candidates for the inconvenience caused to them by the website notice issued earlier for Supplementary examinations (which has been withdrawn for not being legally and operationally valid).
NBE