WHY WE NEED MEDICAL EDUCATION REFORMS?

Dr.T.V.Rao MD

I think in India I am in the same system of Teaching and training the
Medical students as when I was a student in a Medical College in late 1960s. Our
teachers were totally committed to make us better Doctors. I am bold to confess
nothing much changed only many Medical colleges are set up in private sector, with
much falling medical standards, in the era of privatization it is a matter of praising
each other and boosting the results is the only game every one is stuck if you
cannot play the game you are lost in the system, when the result in the subject I was
teaching fell below desired levels many blamed me for poor results, many said in
private colleges teachers are judged by the results they get and not by the merit of
the teaching however we have to settle in the system to survive. The Indian system
of Medical education is further deteriorating with Book of law by Medical Council of
India, I think we do not need a battalion of Teachers who just wake up at the time of
Inspections, and the rest of teaching is left to ill qualified and inexperienced people.
It is good we are really producing good number of Basic MBBS Doctors, they are
only useful to basic care of the patients, the syllabus prescribed is excellent and the
basic skills to serve are really poor and attend an emergency by the majority of the
young Doctors, is far from below expectations, the question remains the house
surgeon are used by many Upcoming medical colleges as work force of the hospital
rather than trainee posts, here lies the real dangers to the patients they treat and
bring in bad reputation to the Institutes, if the matters go wrong, and in matters of
litigation the colleges and Institutes will be paying the heavy price, if not corrected
when the matter go wrong. The matters are no different in many reputed
Government medical colleges, and famous Institutes they too are equally producing
bad quality of even Postgraduates under various consideration, which is more
understood than discussed. It is assured in some newly come up Institutes it is a
package for success when pay the huge amount of money. At least I have an
opinion free to express that it is priority to develop a new model of clinical education
that is based on the educational and developmental needs of the student and which
offers continuity for patient experience, faculty mentoring, and student evaluation.
Engage the faculty, including the most senior faculty, as teachers, mentors, and
guides for Harvard medical students. Increase the rigor of the teaching of science
basic biologic, social, and population sciences at all colleges and truly integrate the
teaching of science and clinical medicine throughout the entire student experience
.As basic science teacher in Microbiology as I see many diseases and Microbes are
added to the syllabus only Text books are grown bigger, fatter in size, many Authors
copied many western books and the real content is not transformed to make the
students to informed on matters of infection as a priority, as we teachers work in
isolation we never integrated the Medicine with idea to make disease rules the
whole body not in compartmental fashion, as has happened with many narrow
specialties and super specialty courses and many times patients were made and not
treated. The ministry of health has formulated many ideas they remained in the book
and never taken shape, we are mass producing Doctors without basic skills, and
never forget the Medical profession passing to evidence based and skill based
practice all over the world, we still teach our students of 19th and 20th century
Medicine and producing the Doctors to treat patient in 21st Century, Medical
Education Reform came about through a deliberate, painstaking, community-wide
process, and it continues through active, continuous review and improvement of the
curriculum, the education program, and the systems that support it. However the
Darwins theory is working in every profession, many of our Engineering graduates
are out of Profession and suitable to employ for trade and performance along with
Dental and Nursing graduates out of specialized profession Mass producing may
serve the Statistical explanations but fails in reality in performance, making the
Health concern of the country remain unattended? I wish and pray there should be
reforms in selection, training and evaluation of every Postgraduate Medical degrees
or ELSE. ? MERIT IS GREAT PRIORITY OF THE NATION IF WE WISH TO
IMPROVE THE HEALTH OF THE NATION

No conflict of Interest
Dr.T.V.Rao MD Professor of Microbiology Freelance writer