Madras HC Directs NMC To Remove Unscientific Remarks About LGBTQIA+ From Syllabus

Following the High Court direction, the NMC directed all the medical colleges and universities not to teach any derogatory or unscientific topics about the LGBTQIA+ community to the students

Madras High Court

Chennai: The Madras High Court has directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to remove any derogatory or unscientific remarks about the LGBTQIA+ community from the medical syllabus under the Central Board of Medical Education (CBME) curriculum. Subsequently, the NMC communicated the same to the colleges and universities.

According to a report in The News Minute, following the High Court direction, the NMC had communicated the same to all the medical colleges and universities. A communication from NMC said it has been noticed that textbooks of medical education especially subjects like Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, and Psychiatry contain unscientific information about virginity and derogatory remarks against LGBTQIA+ community.

The communication further read, whenever the issue of gender or similar topic arises while teaching, the mention of clinical history, complaints, signs, symptoms, examination findings, or history about nomenclature should not be taught in such a way that it becomes derogatory, discriminatory or insulting to the LGBTQIA+ community.

The communication also directed the authors of the medical textbooks to include information about virginity and the LGBTQIA+ community in their books as per the scientific literature and guidelines issued by the government and Courts, the report said.

Earlier, Justice N Anand Venkatesh directed the government to take steps to create a safe environment for the LGBTQIA+ community and ensure that they were not harassed by police personnel. The observation was made while hearing a petition filed by a lesbian couple who reached Chennai to live together. He later directed the police department to ensure that same-sex couple was not harassed by the police force, according to the report.