College of Physicians & Surgeons of Mumbai

The origins of the college go back to the year 1913. In 1913 the British Government through its Governor gave an assent to start such an institution in consonance with the "Royal College of Surgeons of England". Dr. Rajab Ali Patel agreed to establish such a college by dropping the prefix 'Royal' and hence the birth of the institution "College of Physicians and Surgeons" now popularly known as CPS. Initially it was registered under the Bombay Society Act of 1860 in March 1913. vide Annex—(1). Established as a sister institute similar to the Royal College of Surgeons in London which dates back to the 14th century, CPS functions as an examining body and provides affiliations to different district & private hospitals and medical colleges. CPS Mumbai has been offering various Fellowship and Diploma courses at the Postgraduate level to meet the shortage of specialist doctors in India. It is the only examining body besides the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to have been Recognised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to impart Postgraduate Medical Education and currently has around 1600 Doctors pursuing specialisation under its ambit.

On 21 April 1912 a meeting of the committee was called to discuss the proposal for forming a college. The proposal was put to vote and passed unanimously. It was also decided that college should function as Registered Society. Steps were, therefore, taken to register it under Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 and documents were signed to that effect on 4 March 1913.

Surgeon General H W. Stevenson was unanimously elected as Founder President.

Dr. Temulji B. Nariman and Col. C. H. L. Meyer were elected as Vice-Presents. The college committee converted itself into the first Council of the college. Then the constitution was drafted and passed unanimously.

CPS is situated in the prime locality of Mumbai near KEM Hospital, Parel and its office comprises an area of approximately 80,000 sq. feet in a five storied building having different departments and the department heads run the day-to-day activities of CPS.

The CPS has four lecture halls, and 4 examination halls which accommodate approximately 500 students.

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Mumbai offers 3 year Fellowship and 2 year Diploma courses. Both the courses are full time stipendiary hospital positions allowing the holder an entry on to the specialist register.

Various Fellowship courses offered by CPS (3 year Specialist Training Course, equivalent to MD/MS/DNB)

Various Diploma Courses offered by CPS (2 year Specialist Training Course, equivalent to MCI Recognised Diploma)

Certificate Courses: These are one year Certificate Courses designed to be imparted at post MBBS level. They are recognised as specialist medical qualification by the Gujarat Medical Council. However, no post MBBS certificate course is recognised by Medical Council of India as a specialist qualification.

All Diploma courses are recognised by

1. Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) vide GR Extraordinary 4-B dated 15 March 2010 through notification no. PGM.1010/CR-18 (Part 2)/ 10/EDU-2 read with the MMC Act 1965.

2. Gujarat Medical Council (GMC) vide GR no. MCG/10/2011/460646/J dated 26 August 2011.

3. Rajasthan Medical Council (RMC)

4. Chhattisgarh Medical Council (CMC)

5. Madhya Pradesh Medical Council (MPMC)

6. Odisha Medical Council (OMC)

7. Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

Such recognition has sometimes been controversial.[1][2][3][4]

In December 2009, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare derecognized qualifications granted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons in certain courses due to a lack of infrastructure and faculty required to run the courses.[5]

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi (MOHFW) in the Notification dated 17 October 2017, recognised all the diploma courses being offered by the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Mumbai. The Notification - S.O. 3402(E).—In exercise of the power conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 11 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956), the Central Government after consulting the Medical Council of India, hereby makes the further amendments in the First Schedule of the Act, namely and inserted all Broad Specialty Diploma Courses (two years courses at the Post MBBS level) offered by the College Of Physicians & Surgeons of Mumbai, with the following note.

Note : (i) All the admissions should be through NEET PG and centralized counselling and as per Government policy from time to time. (ii) The CPS qualifications shall not be treated as a recognized medical qualification for the purpose of teaching. (iii) Further, any postgraduate degree course to be run by the CPS shall be with the prior approval of this Ministry subject to fulfilment of stipulations prescribed on the lines of Minimum Standard Requirement Regulations of MCI.

Four months after the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had recognized all 39 medical PG diplomas granted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), the same ministry derecognized 36 of them by a notification published on January 22, 2018. They added 6 Fellowship courses on the list of courses recognised by the Ministry. As of May 2020, only three diplomas and six fellowships granted by CPS are now Medical Council of India (MCI) recognised.[6] However, this notification didn't effect the recognition status of Diploma Courses in the State Medical Councils, and all the Diploma courses continue to be recognised at the state level, enabling holders to practice as a specialist.