Membership of Indian Board of Clinical Biochemistry

Name of the Degree

• The name of the degree shall be Membership of Indian Board of Clinical Biochemistry (MIBCB).
• The Indian Board of Clinical Biochemistry (IBCB) is constituted under the provisions and directions of the Association of Clinical Biochemists of India (ACBI)
• The degree will be given under the seal of the Association of Clinical Biochemists of India (ACBI). The course is empanelled by Quality Council of India.
• In UK, professional bodies are giving the degrees of higher education, such as MRCP, FRC Path etc. Similarly, the ACBI is starting a professional course in Clinical Biochemistry.
• In course of time, if needed ACBI should try to get the course affiliated with any national universities of India or abroad, or with an international professional body.

Need for the course

Although there are lots of Universities and Colleges in India, imparting MSc degrees in Biochemistry, a specialized course in Clinical Biochemistry is still lacking. There are few courses run by selected medical colleges, giving MD degree for MBBS graduates and MSc degree of Medical Biochemistry for Science graduates. However, seats for this course are very limited. A course on Clinical Biochemistry is not available anywhere in India

Benefits

Those who pass the examination will be able to man and supervise the activities of the clinical laboratories. At the moment, the availability of seats to various MSc / MD courses in the universities is limited, and that too the speciality of clinical biochemistry is not emphasized. The number of positions available in the clinical laboratories in the country far exceeds the availability of suitably qualified persons.

Eligibility to be admitted to the MIBCB course

• Candidates with MD (biochemistry) degree.
• Candidates with MSc (Medical Biochemistry) degree (3 year course) plus 2 years of experience in a clinical biochemistry laboratory, after obtaining the MSc degree.
• Candidates with MSc (Biochemistry) degree (2 year course) plus 2 years of experience in a clinical biochemistry laboratory, after obtaining the MSc degree. Such candidates, after admission, shall have to undergo a BRIDGE course, consisting of human anatomy and human physiology and clear the examination.
• Candidates with MBBS degree plus 2 years of experience in a clinical biochemistry lab, after obtaining the degree.
• All students should be currently employed in clinical biochemistry laboratory at the time of enrollment in the Membership course, and should continue to work in a clinical biochemistry lab till the completion of the course.

Teaching faculty

Faculty will be drawn from senior professors of Biochemistry preferably working in clinical biochemistry lab in medical colleges or in specialized laboratories. They should have good experience in clinical biochemistry lab. The board (IBCB) will appoint the teachers. Initially, professors who are coming forward will give the charge of developing different modules, and also conducting the modules.

General concept of the course

The duration of the course shall be 3 years. The total course is divided into 6 modules (or semesters), each of 6 months duration. Each module is comprised of 5 topics; thus the whole course will have 30 topics. At the end of each module (semester), there will be an examination on the 5 topics of that module.

There will be a bridge course (6 months) for those who are not already familiar with human anatomy and human physiology.

The course will be mainly through correspondence. The study material of each topic will be sent to the student by email (or CD), and the students will send the answers back. The answers are assessed.

Contact Classes

Further, there will be direct contact classes. A total of 6 contact classes, each of 7-10 days duration (total about 50-60 days) will be organised during the 3 year course. One student has to attend a minimum of 4 contact classes (minimum 30 days) during 3 years. The contact classes will be assigned at specific centres in India, once in every 6 months. These are mainly to demonstrate the working of various automated specialized laboratories, and to get hands on experience. At the end of the contact classes, there will be one examination by the professor organizing that particular contact classes.

Moreover, it is compulsory for the student to attend the preconference professional (CME) course, preconference workshops and regular conference sessions during the annual conferences of the ACBI; this will give further 5 days x 3 years = 15 days. Attendance of ACBI conference is compulsory. These students will be preferentially selected for preconference workshops. Thus there will be a grand total of 30 + 15 = 45 contact days during the 3 year course.

In short, there will be 30 theory (correspondence) topics, and 45 contact days (including ACBI conferences) during the 3 years

Dissertation

It is absolutely necessary that the student should have a general knowledge on conducting research. He / she should be familiar with the research methodology, ethics in research, application of biostatistics in research, how to do literature survey, etc. Each student should select (or will be assigned) a dissertation work in the field of Clinical biochemistry. Dissertation work can be carried out by the student either at his own laboratory, or at a national laboratory. The dissertation will be evaluated before the final examination..

Instead of dissertation, the student can take up his own research and publish. One publication in a standard peer-reviewed journal will be equivalent to the dissertation.

Candidates having PhD or MD qualifications are exempted from dissertation, because they had already done research work.

Carry over system

A student is supposed to pass the modular examination. The candidates can move to the second and third semesters of the course, irrespective of whether they cleared the exams of the previous modules. However, before entering to the fourth module, all three previous module examinations should have been cleared. In other words, only by completing all the first 15 topics he / she can enroll in the 4th module. Then from the 4th module onwards such carry over system is allowed till the completion of the whole course.

Examination system

Marks will be allotted to

• Marks obtained in the end-topic examinations. This is done through correspondence. Marks will be based on the answers as well as the punctuality of the student in sending back the answers, equivalent to attendance.
• Performance of the student through the contact hours
• Attendance of the annual conferences of the ACBI, and
• Examinations at the end of each module (module examinations).

Module examination will be conducted in selected centres on stipulated date and time. In due course, the modular examinations could be made on-line, at specified date and time at specified centres throughout India. Questions will be generally of MCQ type. There will be 6 module examinations, each carry 100 marks. For each module examination, there will be 100 MCQ, each correct question carrying 3 marks, and each negative answer carrying minus 1 mark. Duration of each module examination will be 100 minutes.

Marks are assigned as follows

End topic examination : 30 topics x 4 marks = 120 marks
Contact, (30 days) (4 contact x 25 marks) = 100
Attending 3 annual conferences =15 days (2 x 15 ) = 30
Semester examinations (6 modules x 125 marks) = 750 (*)
Total =1000

(*) Student should get 75% marks in each of the semester examinations for a pass of that particular semester (see the carry over allowance described previously).

A student is declared to have passed, when the following criteria are satisfied

• Get an aggregate marks of minimum 80% marks out of total 1000 marks
• Get a minimum of 75% marks in each of the 6 semester examinations
• Undergone minimum 30 days contact classes within 3 years
• Had attended 3 ACBI conferences during the 3 years
• Submitted the dissertation in time and same is assessed as good by the examiner. Certificates will be given to the candidate only after successfully completing the dissertation work. There is no separate mark for the dissertation. But it will be examined by an examiner, and get approval that it has the minimum standard. Dissertation work is exempted when
  i) If the candidate has atleast one publication in a peer reviewed journal
  ii) Candidates having PhD and MD are exempted from dissertation work