College of Physicians & Surgeons of Mumbai

College of Physicians & Surgeons of Mumbai or CPS Mumbai or CPS Bombay, established in 1912, is an autonomous body imparting Postgraduate Medical Education and offers 10 Fellowship & 17 Diploma Courses. It is located in Mumbai near KEM Hospital and it caters to doctors from all over India. The qualifications granted by CPS Mumbai allow the Practitioner to register themselves as specialists in the specialty concerned, upon duly completing the tenure of 2 years Diploma or 3 years Fellowship and passing the exit examination prescribed.



History
In 1912, through its Governor, the British Government permitted to establish a Postgraduate Medical Institution in accordance with the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Dr. Rajab Ali Patel agreed to establish such a college by dropping the prefix 'Royal'. 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. Established as a sister institute 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 and 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 recognized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to impart postgraduate medical education. At its peak, it had around 1,600 doctors pursuing specialization under its ambit. CPS is said to have granted almost 45,000 doctors over its 110-year history with diploma or fellowship qualifications allowing them to register themselves as specialists.

Establishment
On 21 April 1912, a committee meeting was called to discuss the proposal in forming a college. The proposal was put to the vote and passed unanimously. It was also decided that college should function as a Registered Society. Therefore, steps were 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, while Dr. Temulji B. Nariman and Col. C. H. L. Meyer were elected as vice-presidents. The college committee converted itself into the first Council of the college. Then the constitution was drafted and passed unanimously.

Administration office
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. The CPS has four lecture halls and four examination halls, which accommodates approximately 500 students.

Fellowship and diploma
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Mumbai offers 3-year fellowship and 2-year diploma courses. Both courses are full-time stipendiary hospital positions allowing the holder an entry onto the specialist register.

Various fellowship courses offered by CPS (3-year Specialist Training Course)

Various Diploma Courses offered by CPS (2-year Specialist Training Course)

Certificate
Certificate Courses: These were 1-year training programmes designed to be imparted at post MBBS level. They were recognized as specialist medical qualifications by the Gujarat Medical Council. However, no post MBBS certificate course was recognised by National Medical Commission/Medical Council of India as a specialist qualification. Enrollment into the Certificate Courses has ceased since 2019.

State Medical Council recognition
Various Diploma, Fellowship and Certificate Courses are recognised by different Indian States which allow the holders to practice as specialists in those states, namely

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. The qualifications are recognised only for candidates possessing CPS qualifications when granted either before 14 July, 2023; or if enrolled before 14 July 2023. All non NMC recognised CPS qualifications are not valid in the state of Maharashtra if enrolled after 14 July 2023.

2. 	Gujarat Medical Council (GMC) vide GR no. MCG/10/2011/460646/J dated 26 August 2011, provided the candidate is a domicile of the State of Gujarat.

3. Rajasthan Medical Council (RMC) since 2016, provided the entire course of Diploma or Fellowship is completed within the state of Rajasthan.

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

Such recognition has sometimes been controversial.

National recognition
MCPS, FCPS (Medicine), FCPS (Surgery), FCPS (Midwifery & Gynaecology), FCPS (Ophthalmology), FCPS (Dermatology & Venereology), FCPS (Pathology), DGO, DCH and DPB qualifications granted by College of Physicians and Surgeons of Mumbai were recognized since its Inception in 1913. However, in December 2009, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare derecognized qualifications granted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons owing to a lack of infrastructure and faculty required to run the courses.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi (MoHFW) in the Notification dated October 17, 2017, recognized all the PG diploma courses (DGO, DCH, DPB, D.ORTHO, DMRE, DDV, DTMH, DOMS, DA, TDD, DORL, DGM, DGS, DFP, DPM, DTM, DFP, DEME along with Super-speciality Diploma Courses) offered by the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Mumbai after an extensive review of the courses and based on recommendations of PG Medical Education Committee spearheaded by Dr Devi Shetty. 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 fulfillment 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 PG diplomas granted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the same ministry derecognized all of them except DGO, DCH and DPB, by a notification published on January 22, 2018. They added 6 Fellowship courses to the list of courses recognized by the Medical Council of India. Therefore, currently only three PG Diplomas and six Fellowships granted by CPS are now recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI)/National Medical Commission (NMC). However, this notification didn't affect the recognition status of candidates who enrolled themselves in PG Diploma Courses offered by CPS Mumbai between October 2017 and February 2018. All the Broad Specialty PG Diploma holders (D.ORTHO, DMRE, DDV, DOMS, DORL, DPM, DTMH, DTM, DA, TDD, DTM, DFP, DPH, DGM, DGS) of this interim period continue to be recognized as specialists.