Though NMC dropped lesbianism, sodomy and other such acts from the MBBS syllabus, activists felt the revised guidelines do not address the concerns of people with disabilities and transgenders.
Published Sep 13, 2024 | 10:43 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 13, 2024 | 10:43 AM
The National Medical Commission was forced to withdraw the Competency-Based Medical Education, 2024, guidelines following widespread criticism. (Wikimedia Commons)
It’s official. Lesbianism, sodomy, and other such acts are out of the MBBS curriculum.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) omitted such acts from the list of sexual offenses in the Forensic Medicine syllabus of MBBS students following widespread criticism.
The junking of the topics came just days after the NMC had withdrawn its new guidelines for the Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) Curriculum 2024, issued by the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB).
In the new syllabus, the NMC has included topics related to the histories of gender and sexuality-based identities and rights in India, as well as the decriminalisation of adultery and consensual adult homosexual behaviour.
Issued on 31 August, the guidelines sparked controversy after the NMC reintroduced lesbianism, sodomy, and other acts as unnatural sexual offenses in the forensic science and toxicology curriculum of MBBS students.
Earlier, the syllabus included the requirement: “FM8.4: Describe and discuss adultery and unnatural sexual offenses—sodomy, incest, lesbianism, buccal coitus, bestiality, indecent assault—and the preparation of reports, framing of opinions, and preservation and dispatch of trace evidence in such cases.”
It also called for the description and discussion of sexual perversions, including fetishism, transvestism, voyeurism, sadism, necrophagia, masochism, exhibitionism, frotteurism, and necrophilia.
On 5 September, the NMC announced that the circular notifying the guidelines “stands withdrawn and cancelled” with immediate effect. It added that the guidelines would be “revised and reissued in due course.”
However, rights activists remained skeptical, as they believed that the NMC had a history of making sudden reversals.
Interestingly, the NMC scrapped the guidelines on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decriminalisation of homosexuality in India. On 6 September 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalised same-sex relations between consenting adults, was unconstitutional.
The current syllabus now includes the following topics for teaching: “Describe and discuss informed consent in sexual intercourse. Describe and discuss the histories of gender and sexuality-based (sexual orientation) identities and rights in India. Describe the history of decriminalisation of ‘adultery’ and consensual adult homosexual behavior. Describe sexual offenses and their medicolegal significance, including Forced/non-consensual penetrative anal sex, forced/non-consensual oral sex, sexual acts with animals/bestiality/zoophilia, forced/non-consensual insertion of fingers or objects, and forced/non-consensual touching, groping, or disrobing (‘indecent assault’).”
Additionally, the syllabus no longer included virginity or two-finger (pre-vaginum) tests. Instead, it emphasised that the so-called ‘signs’ of virginity, including the unscientific and discriminatory two-finger test, were inhuman and unjustifiable.
While banning the two-finger test in 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the two-finger test was unethical and immoral, and had no scientific basis.
“Describe and discuss how ‘signs’ of virginity (so-called ‘virginity test,’ including finger tests) are unscientific, inhuman, and discriminatory. Describe and discuss how to inform the courts about the unscientific basis of these tests if ordered by the court,” the new syllabus said.
Dr Satendra Singh, a disability rights activist, pointed out that the new NMC guidelines overlooked persons with disabilities and the transgender community.
“In the 466-word document, there is no mention of key terms like ‘dignity’ or ‘transgender.’ During the two-week foundation course, while eight hours are allocated for ‘sports,’ there is no focus on disability competencies. Despite widespread outrage, the NMC shows no obligation to comply with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, or the Transgender Persons Protection Act, 2019,” he said.
“Modified guidelines for the academic year 2025-26 onwards regarding admission of students with ‘specified disabilities’ under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, concerning admission in MBBS will be notified separately,” the NMC guidelines, stated.
“Until further notice, the disability guidelines (pages 96 to 98) stipulated under the CBME Guidelines 2023, dated 1 August 2023, shall be applicable for the academic year 2024-25,” it added.
Dr Singh also noted that the main stakeholders—students—who were not consulted in either the 2019 or 2024 curriculum revisions have written to the NMC, requesting the inclusion of their suggestions on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics (SOGIESC), and disability rights within the Attitude, Ethics, and Communication (AETCOM) module.
“Subjects continue to focus solely on the ‘magnitude of disability’ without acknowledging the diversity mandated by the UNCRPD. Psychiatry still refers to ‘gender identity disorders,’ and Physiology describes sexual differentiation as ‘abnormalities,’ he said.
“Paediatrics fails to address gender incongruence. The only notable change was the removal of lesbianism, anal intercourse, and other sexual acts from the list of sexual offenses in the Forensic Medicine syllabus, with separate guidelines for disability in MBBS admissions to be framed later,” he added.
Despite widespread outrage, the NMC shows no obligation to comply with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 or Transgender Persons Protection Act 2019. 2/#CBME2024 https://t.co/mWxC0BoZBf
— Satendra Singh, MD (@drsitu) September 12, 2024
An online collective raising awareness on LGBTQIA+ condemned the community felt the Psychosexual and Gender Identity Disorders in Psychiatry discriminated against LGBTQ+ people.
“NMC fails, again! After receiving complaints, NMC updated the medical exam syllabus and it no longer calls LGBTQ+ persons sexual perverts, unnatural, and criminals. However, it still calls transgender & non-binary gender identities as disorders and intersex persons as abnormal,” the collective’s X handle, Yes, We Exist, said.
NMC fails, again! 🤯 After receiving complaints, NMC updated the medical exam syllabus and it no longer calls LGBTQ+ persons sexual perverts, unnatural and criminals. However, it still calls transgender & non-binary gender identities as disorders and intersex persons as abnormal.
— Yes, We Exist 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@YesWeExistIndia) September 13, 2024
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
