ICMLS Advocacy for Minimum Standards Requirements for Allied & Healthcare Education Institutions

The Indian Confederation of Medical Laboratory Science (ICMLS) firmly believes that the quality of education in Allied and Healthcare institutions directly determines the competence, ethics, and safety of healthcare delivery in India. As a national professional body representing Medical Laboratory Professionals, ICMLS has been at the forefront of advocating for the establishment and enforcement of Minimum Standards Requirements (MSR) for all Allied and Healthcare Education Institutions under the framework of the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) Act, 2021.

ICMLS’s advocacy is grounded in the vision of ensuring uniformity, quality assurance, and global comparability in the education and training of allied and healthcare professionals.

Key Areas of ICMLS Advocacy

1.    Ensuring Regulatory Compliance and Quality Assurance: ICMLS emphasizes that every educational institution offering allied and healthcare programs must meet the Minimum Standards Requirements (MSR) in infrastructure, faculty, equipment, laboratory facilities, and clinical training. It advocates for a national regulatory audit system to ensure compliance with these standards, preventing substandard or unregulated institutions from compromising the quality of education.

2.    Faculty Qualifications and Development: ICMLS has consistently urged the authorities to include clear faculty qualification norms within the MSR, ensuring that teaching positions are occupied by qualified and registered allied health professionals with relevant academic and clinical backgrounds. The Confederation also promotes continuous faculty development programs (FDPs) to enhance pedagogical skills, research capacity, and professional competence.

3.    Infrastructure and Laboratory Facilities: ICMLS advocates that all institutions must have modern, well-equipped teaching and diagnostic laboratories that meet national and international standards. This includes adequate student-to-equipment ratios, access to clinical training laboratories, and facilities for simulation-based and research learning  ensuring students gain both theoretical knowledge and practical expertise.

4.   Standardization of Curriculum and Competency-Based Education: ICMLS supports the integration of competency-based curricula across allied and healthcare programs, with clear learning outcomes aligned to the Scope of Practice and global educational frameworks such as those of the IFBLS and WHO. It recommends that the MSR include regular curriculum review mechanisms involving professional bodies to keep pace with emerging healthcare technologies and practices.

5.   Ethics, Quality, and Accreditation Culture: ICMLS emphasizes that institutions must promote a culture of ethics, quality, and accreditation, integrating modules on Laboratory Quality Management, Patient Safety, and Professional Conduct into all programs. The organization also advocates that every institution should operate under a recognized accreditation body, ensuring accountability and public trust.

6.    Linking Education with Employability and Research: ICMLS advocates that the MSR framework should ensure linkages between academic training, clinical practice, and research. It calls for partnerships between educational institutions, hospitals, and diagnostic laboratories, providing students with exposure to real-world healthcare environments and applied research opportunities.

7.    Periodic Review and Monitoring: ICMLS recommends that the NCAHP and State Councils establish a transparent, periodic inspection and monitoring mechanism to assess institutional compliance with MSR, ensuring continuous improvement and adherence to national benchmarks.

The ICMLS advocacy for Minimum Standards Requirements aims to uphold the integrity, competence, and global recognition of Allied and Healthcare Education in India. By ensuring that all institutions operate under uniform quality norms, ICMLS envisions a system that produces highly skilled, ethical, and accountable professionals capable of meeting modern healthcare demands. Through its sustained engagement with policymakers, academic leaders, and regulators, ICMLS continues to champion excellence in education as the foundation for a strong and safe healthcare system in India.