No seat for visually, hearing challenged in medical colleges

New Delhi: In a shocking development, it has come to notice that the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 -- a new and reformed legislation -- is not proving helpful for students with visual impairment and hearing impairment in fulfilling their dreams of becoming a doctor.

According to the latest report, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has accepted the recommendations of Medical Council of India (MCI) to not allow admission of students with 40 per cent visual and hearing impairments.

It must be noted that students with such type of disabilities were treated as general category students prior to coming into force new Act and were debarred from pursuing MBBS degrees in medical colleges. As per the new Act, disability has been defined based on an evolving and dynamic concept and types of disabilities have been increased from existing 7 to 21, including low-vision and blindness.

According to a senior official, soon after the implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Health Ministry had asked MCI to make changes in the admission norms in compliance with the new law.

In its recommendations submitted to the Health Ministry, the MCI has stated that students of such categories wouldn't be allowed to get admission in medical colleges for MBBS course. Similarly, the persons with learning disabilities, autism, mental illness, etc have also been debarred from pursuing the medical education.

The official further added that the decision to approve MCI recommendations has been taken after detailed discussion with the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

However, disability rights activists have dubbed the Health Ministry's decision as a mockery of the Constitution. "How can MCI and Health Ministry decide that students with 40 per cent visual

and hearing impairment would not be able to become a doctor, when there are several cases of people with such disabilities are working as doctors/physiologists?" asks Dr Satendra Singh, who is an associate professor at GTB Hospital and disability rights activist.

Refusing to accept the decision, Singh said, "In the MCI committee, not a single member was disabled, so without us (disables) how anything can be done for us. It's a total violation of the rights of the persons with disabilities."