A pill to improve medical education

Updated on: Thursday, April 07, 2011

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has proposed major changes in the undergraduate curriculum and training aimed at meeting the twin demand of having more graduates and maintaining the quality of education. The Board of Governors of the MCI has recommended creation of an “Indian Medical Graduate,” who will have necessary competence to assume his or her role as a health care provider. MCI also hopes that the ‘Indian Medical Graduate' will, at the time of graduation, effectively fulfill the roles of clinician, leader, communicator and life-long learner, and be a professional with a set of competencies.

The ‘Indian Medical Graduate' will have to pass an exit exam or a licentiate examination after an internship to get licence to practice anywhere in the country.

The national-level exit exam is expected to set a standard for doctors. The MCI also proposes to introduce the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test from 2012. The licentiate system, if approved, would be optional between 2012 and 2016, but mandatory thereon.

The MCI has proposed to start a two-month foundation course after admission to MBBS course to prepare students to study medicine effectively.

This would help in orienting students to national health scenarios, medical ethics, health economics, learning skills and communication, life support, biohazard and environment safety.

The new curriculum has been structured to facilitate horizontal and vertical integration between disciplines and bridge the gaps between theory and practice. In the first year, focus would be on basic and laboratory sciences, while in the second and third years, focus would be on clinical exposure and learning. Clinical training would start in the first year and there would be more focus on common problems seen in outpatients and emergency settings.

Importantly, an ‘elective' subject has been added to the ‘core' subjects to allow flexible learning options in the curriculum and the options include clinical electives, laboratory postings and or community exposure in areas that students were not normally exposed to as part of the regular curriculum. The restructured curriculum would emphasise on clinical exposure, integration of basic and clinical sciences, clinical competence and skills and new teaching-learning methodologies that would lead to a new generation of graduates of global standards.

A new two-year Master of Medicine (M. Med.) programme is also proposed with focus on skill development. Degree holders will be eligible to teach undergraduate courses. There will be no competitive exam for this course and the assessment will be based on the student's performance during the course and the national exit exam.

M. Med, students would have the option of pursuing one of the five doctorate streams depending on the aptitude and professional aspirations. After M.Med., the graduates would be able to compete for Doctor of Medicine or Master of Surgery or other dual programmes .

An additional weightage of 5 per cent would be given to candidates for putting in six months of intensive rural service during the M.Med. course.

The two-year course can be pursued after finishing the MBBS course; one more year of study will lead to MD degree for candidates. A candidate would get dual degrees after four years and he or she has a choice to go on a fellowship programme or a Ph.D. programme. The MCI is also considering a proposal to shorten the MBBS course to four years from four-and-a-half years.

A pill to improve medical education

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