In exercise of the powers conferred by clauses d, e, s, t, u, w, x, y, z, za, zb and (zc) of sub section 2 and sub section 1 of section 55 of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act

REGD. No. D. L.-33004/99 The Gazette of India EXTRAORDINARY PART III—Section 4 PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY No. 869] NEW DELHI, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2023/PAUSHA 8, 1945 CG-DL-E-06012024-251186 [Note: If any discrepancy is found between Hindi and English version of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (Minimum Essential Standards, Assessment and Rating for Undergraduate Sowa-Rigpa Colleges and Attached Teaching Hospitals) Regulations, 2023, the English version will be treated as the final] THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR INDIAN SYSTEM OF MEDICINE NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 28th December, 2023 File No. 18-12/2022-BUSS (Sowa-Rigpa-UG-MES).—In exercise of the powers conferred by clauses (d), (e), (s), (t), (u), (w), (x), (y), (z), (za), (zb) and (zc) of sub-section (2) and sub-section (1) of section 55 of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020 (14 of 2020), and in supersession of the Indian Medicine Central Council (Requirements of Minimum Standards for Under-graduate Sowa-Rigpa Colleges and Attached Hospitals) Regulations, 2017 and the Establishment of New Medical College, Opening of New or Higher Course of Study or Training and Increase of Admission Capacity by a Medical College Regulations, 2019, except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such supersession, the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine hereby makes the following regulations, namely:- CHAPTER-I PRELIMINARY 1. Short title and commencement.- (1) These regulations may be called the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (Minimum Essential Standards, Assessment and Rating for Undergraduate Sowa-Rigpa Colleges and Attached Teaching Hospitals) Regulations, 2023. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. 2. Definition.- (1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) “Act” means the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020 (14 of 2020); (b) “annexure” means an annexure appended to these regulations; (c) “appendix” means an appendix appended to these regulations; (d) “applicant” means an authority representing a society, trust, University, or any other body, but does not include the Central Government; (e) “assessment” of a college or institution means the act of verifying the availability of minimum essential standards as specified in these regulations in terms of infrastructure, human resources, and functionality of an institution and its attached teaching hospital; (f) “attached teaching hospital” means the teaching hospital attached to the Sowa-Rigpa medical college or institution that offers standard healthcare services to the public and teaching or training to the students of the Sowa-Rigpa system of medicine; (g) “educational ecosystem” means an ecosystem where, among all the stakeholders of the medical college or institution, all the departments and other units of the college or institution function in coordination and collaboration with each other to provide comprehensive education to students in an appropriate academic environment; (h)“fully established institution” means an college or institution that has completed all phase-wise establishments under Section 29 of the Act, issued a letter of permission, received the first, second, and third renewals of permission, and is considered fully established under Section 28 of the Act in the successive years after the third renewal of permission; (i) “functionality of the hospital” means an attached teaching hospital fulfilling all the minimum essential standard requirements as specified by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine that offers clinical training to medical students and provides medical services including consultation, diagnosis (clinical and investigational), treatment (medical, surgical, and procedural), preventive health care, medical advice, counselling, nursing care, medicine dispensing, public outreach activities with proper documentation, and maintaining a hospital management system; and shall be ready to treat or attend any type of patient at any point in time with its manpower and infrastructure; (j)“functionality of the college or institution” means a Sowa-Rigpa college or institution fulfilling all the minimum essential standards as specified by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine that offers teaching and training to students of Sowa-Rigpa as per the course curriculum and syllabus specified by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine by establishing an education ecosystem; (k) “institution under establishment” means the college or institution undergoing phase-wise establishments (first, second, third, and final phases of establishments) under Section 29 of the Act; (l) “letter of intent” means preliminary approval along with conditions and timelines issued by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine to the applicant through the procedure mentioned in these regulations to establish a new Sowa-Rigpa college or institution or to increase seats or student intake capacity or admission capacity in existing courses or programmes or to start any new or postgraduate programme recognised by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine; (m) “letter of permission” means permission granted to the applicant by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine through the procedure mentioned in these regulations to establish a new Sowa-Rigpa college or institution or to increase seats or student intake capacity or admission capacity in existing courses or programmes or to start a postgraduate or new programme recognised by the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine and to admit the students as per the sanctioned student intake capacity sanctioned by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine; (n) “minimum essential standards” means mandatory minimum requirements in terms of infrastructure, human resources, and functionality, as well as a level of quality or standard that is thought to be acceptable as a minimum and below the minimum, which is unacceptable; (o) “person” means any society, trust, University, or any other body, but does not include the Central Government; (p) “rating” of a college or institution means rating of a fully established existing recognised college or institution under Section 28 of the Act through a rating procedure carried out by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine based on criteria or standards over and above the minimum essential standards as laid down by the Board of Unani, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa in these regulations; (q) “renewal of permission” means renewed permission (i.e., first, second, and third renewal) granted by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine to a new college or institution under establishment (i.e., undergoing second, third, and fourth phase-wise establishments) through the procedures as mentioned in these regulations during successive academic years after the issuance of a letter of permission on fulfillment of minimum essential standards as mentioned in phase-wise establishments, for admitting students as per the sanctioned student intake capacity for that particular academic year; (r)“sanctioned student intake capacity” means the number of seats sanctioned or permitted by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine to a recognised college or institution for admission of students in a specified academic course or programme for that particular academic year; (2) Words and expressions used in these regulations and not defined herein but defined in the Act, shall have the respective meanings assigned to them in the Act. CHAPTER-II INSPECTION OR VISITATION AND ASSESSMENT OF FULLY ESTABLISHED EXISTING SOWA-RIGPA MEDICAL COLLEGES OR INSTITUTIONS UNDER SECTION 28 OF THE ACT 3. Assessment of fully established existing colleges under section 28 of the Act.- Assessment shall be the act of verifying the availability of the minimum essential standards of a college or institution in terms of infrastructure, human resources, and functionality as mentioned in these regulations through the assessment procedure determined by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine from time to time; it shall be for the grant or denial of permission for admission of students or to take such measures mentioned in clause (f) of sub-section (1) of section 28 of the Act. (1) Fulfillment of minimum essential standards to grant permission.- (a) fully-established existing Sowa-Rigpa colleges or institutions and their attached hospitals under section 28 of the Act, shall fulfil all minimum essential standards for infrastructure, teaching and training facilities, human resources and functionalities referred to in these regulations 4 to 6 and Schedule- I to XIII; (b) each college or institution shall submit a compliance report on the fulfilment of the minimum essential standard requirements as mentioned in these regulations on or before 31st day of December of every year for consideration of the grant of permission for taking admissions in the upcoming or next academic year; (c) the inspection or visitation proforma as prescribed by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine on the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine website for annual disclosure, shall be filled and submitted by the colleges or institutions online or offline within the period as specified by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine from time to time; (d) the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine shall determine the procedure for inspection or visitation, and assessment of college or institution in accordance with standards laid down by the Board of Unani, Siddha and Sowa- Rigpa in these regulations, and the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine shall carry out suo-moto inspection or visitation of existing colleges or institutions every year in between the 1st January to 30th of June to assess the fulfilment of minimum essential standards in terms of infrastructure, facilities, human resources, and functionality as per these regulations; (e) inspection or visitation shall be conducted on physical or virtual or hybrid mode as decided by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine; (f) during inspection or visitation, the visitors shall verify the data submitted by the college or institution through the visitation proforma online or offline as specified by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine and submit the visitors report with the duly filled visitors proforma, documents provided by the college or institution, and observations made by the visitors to the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine online or offline as specified by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine along with the videography and photography of staff (teaching staff, non-teaching staff, and hospital staff) and infrastructure taken during the inspection or visitation and submitted by the college or institution to the visitors; (g) after submission by the visitors, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine shall verify the data and documents submitted by the college and visitors; (h) after verification,- (i) the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine shall decide to grant the permission for admitting students for the upcoming or next academic session or not; (ii) if it is found that the college or institution has not fulfilled or failed to maintain the minimum essential standards as specified by the Board of Unani, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa in these regulations, the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine shall deny the permission for admitting students for the coming or upcoming or next academic session or shall take such measures, including issuing warning, imposition of monetary penalty, reducing intake, or stoppage of admission and recommending to the commission for withdrawal of recognition under clause (f) of sub-section (1) of section 28 of the Act; (iii) such decision of the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine (i.e., grant of permission or denial of permission or measures such as penalty etc.,) shall be communicated to the college or institution by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine on or before 30th June of each academic year; (i) (i) in case of denial of permission by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine, the aggrieved college or institution may prefer an appeal to the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine within a period of thirty days of communication of such decision by the Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine (as per the sub-section