The National Medical Council (NMC) informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that having a diagnosis of mental illness should no longer prevent individuals from pursuing an MBBS course. The NMC also indicated that such aspirants might be eligible for quota benefits in the future, once more improved methods of assessing disabilities are developed.

Earlier, in May, the Supreme Court instructed the National Medical Council (NMC), the governing body for medical education in India, to establish a committee consisting of subject matter experts. This committee's purpose is to review a request to develop new methods for assessing disabilities in students with mental illnesses, special learning disorders, and autism spectrum disorders. The goal of these assessments is to determine eligibility for admission quotas in MBBS courses.

The bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal, appearing for a MBBS aspirant, that several countries are not only permitting persons having mental illnesses to pursue medical education but also granting reservation in admissions.

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In the said matter, the Supreme Court grants Bansal to make amendments to his petition, allowing him to challenge the new guidelines introduced by the National Medical Council (NMC). These guidelines pertain to the admission of individuals with mental illness into MBBS courses.

Nevertheless, the bench acknowledged that the National Medical Council (NMC) had taken the initiative to establish a committee of domain experts and had subsequently formulated certain guidelines after a thorough examination of the matter.

“On thorough consideration of the recommendations received from the expert members in … meetings, the Under Graduate Medical Education Board reaches to a conclusion that in respect of mental illness, ‘the diagnosis of Mental Illness can no longer be a bar for eligibility to pursue medical education (MBBS) provided the candidate falls in the merit list in competitive entrance examination ie. NEET-UG’,” the NMC said in its report.

“Since the benefits of reservation/quota are not determinable under the present available methods of assessment hence the quoted italic statement in the earlier disability notification dated May 13, 2019 — ‘However the benefit of reservation quota may be considered in future after developing better methods of disability assessment’ — shall remain valid,” the council said.

Taking the report on record, the bench said that it will consider the issue after four weeks.

The top court was hearing the petition by Vishal Gupta who was denied reservation in admission to MBBS course under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act on the ground that his mental disability was 55 per cent rendering him ineligible for securing admission in a medical college.

The bench had said the person suffering from special learning and autism spectrum disorders cannot be treated so shabbily and denied quota benefits under the statute.

“We are of the considered view that the aspects which have been raised in these proceedings required to be considered by an expert body having domain knowledge.

“We, therefore, direct the National Medical Commission to treat the grievance of the petitioner in these proceedings as a representation and to consider the grievance at an appropriate level while dealing with the regulations on graduate medical education,” the apex court ordered on May 18.