BREAKING: Disability Over 40% Not a Barrier to MBBS Admission Eligibility: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a person cannot be denied admission to a medical college solely because they have a disability of more than 40%. This decision challenges the existing regulations by the National Medical Council (NMC), which currently prohibit individuals with disabilities exceeding 40% from enrolling in MBBS courses.

The Court clarified that having a 40% disability does not automatically make a candidate ineligible for medical education. Admission should only be denied if a Disability Assessment Board determines that the individual is unable to pursue or complete their studies due to their disability.

The Supreme Court also stated that the NMC’s blanket rule, which bars candidates with benchmark disabilities from pursuing medical education, is too restrictive. The Court directed the NMC to revise its regulations to adopt a more inclusive approach, ensuring that people with disabilities are not unjustly excluded based on outdated or overly broad rules.

This ruling came in response to the case of a student with a 40-45% speech and language disability whose application for admission was initially rejected. The Supreme Court emphasized that simply having a benchmark disability should not prevent a person from studying medicine unless a formal assessment concludes that they are unable to handle the demands of the course.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Aravind Kumar, and KV Viswanathan gave detailed reasons for their earlier order, issued on September 18, which allowed the candidate to take admission in the MBBS program after the medical board confirmed that he could pursue medical education without any problems.

The bench said, "Mere existence of benchmark disability will not disqualify a candidate from being eligible for the MBBS course. The disability board assessing the disability of the candidate must positively record whether the disability of the candidate will or will not come in the way of the candidate pursuing the course."

The Court further explained that if the Disability Assessment Board finds that the candidate is ineligible, they must provide clear reasons for their conclusion.

This verdict came in the case of a student named Omkar, who had challenged the Graduate Medical Education Regulation of 1997, which bars individuals with 40% or more disability from pursuing MBBS.