New MBBS Attendance Policy to Include Virtual Lecture Hours The National Medical Commission (NMC) has announced that MBBS students who will be appearing for the supplementary examinations will have to maintain at least 75% attendance in theory and 80% in practical or clinical training. The students having less than 75% attendance in theory and less than 80% in practical or clinical will not be allowed to appear in supplementary examinations.

New MBBS Attendance Policy to Include Virtual Lecture Hours

From 1st May, 2025, making attendance on NMC AEBAS vide Finger Authentication device will be discontinued, and only the Face biometric Authentication device will be permitted, the notice said.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has ignited a fierce national debate after issuing a directive mandating the use of facial recognition systems for tracking the attendance of faculty in medical colleges across India.

These rules are part of the NMC’s Competency-Based Medical Education Regulation 2023, published on August 1, 2023. According to the CBME guidelines, this rule will be applicable to every student of every batch admitted to the MBBS course since 2019. Students who will not be able to maintain the NMC-required attendance percentage will be required to take classes with the junior batches in the next academic year only.

Why the NMC Took This Step

• widespread Falsification of Attendance Some medical colleges have been caught red-handed using fraudulent biometric systems or proxies to fake faculty attendance, especially during surprise inspections or NMC evaluations.
• Lack of transparency Without consistent and verifiable records, monitoring the academic rigour of these institutions becomes challenging. This affects both student outcomes and public trust.
•  Push for digital reform in education: the NMC is aligning with India’s larger vision of digital governance by adopting tools like facial recognition for more secure and transparent administration.

NMC: 75% attendance in theory is a must for MBBS supplementary exams

The National Medical Commission (NMC) started on Wednesday that MBBS students must have at least a 75% attendance rate in theory classes and an 80% attendance rate in practical or clinical training in order to appear in the extra test that follows the normal annual examination.

These are a part of the competency-based medical education regulations for 2023 that were released by the NMC on August 1 of that year. In response to a list of frequently asked questions about CBME regulations 2023, NMC stated that the CBME rules will be applied to every student admitted to the MBBS programme starting in 2019.

Students in the MBBS program who attend after more than 75% of theory classes and less than 80% of practical or clinical training sessions will not be permitted to take the supplementary exams. To make up for their lack of attendance, such students will be required to enrol in junior batch classes beginning the following academic year. They will only be qualified to sit for the exam during the following academic year.

An MBBS program may last up to 10 years in total, including the compulsory rotating medical internship time span. The maximum time allowed to complete an internship is two years. NMC states that in order to be admitted to the second phase of the MBBS programme, a student must have passed every topic in the first-year MBBS annual or extra test.

Students in the MBBS program who attend fewer than 75% of theory classes and less than 80% of practical or clinical training sessions will not be permitted to take the supplementary exams.

The NMC has further dropped the practice of grace marks, reduced the foundation course duration from one month to one week in the first MBBS professional year and clearly told universities that there will be no MBBS admission after August 30. The universities shall not register any student admitted beyond the said date, “NMC regulations state,” hoping to curb the practice of admissions lingering till September.

Conclusion

In this article we discussed the new MBBS attendance policy to include virtual lecture hours. The National Medical Commission (NMC) has announced that MBBS students who will be appearing for the supplementary examinations will have to maintain at least 75% attendance in theory and 80% in practical or clinical training. These are a part of the competency-based medical education regulations for 2023 that were released by the NMC on August 1 of that year. The MBBS programme may last up to 10 years in total, including the compulsory rotating medical internship time span.