The 2019 National Medical Commission (NMC) guideline requiring an MBBS aspirant to have "both hands intact" “reeks of ableism and has no place in a statutory regulation,” the Supreme Court said on Friday.
Confirming the admission granted to a candidate with 50 per cent locomotor disability—which affects a person’s ability to move their limbs or objects—by its interim order dated December 12, 2024, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan reiterated the call for revising the NMC guidelines.
The court stated that the prescription of "both hands intact" was “completely antithetical” to Article 41 of the Constitution, the principles enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act.
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