Spring Cleaning: On Medical Education in India

 Context:

Recently, the National Medical Commission (NMC) announced the immediate withdrawal of the Graduate Medical Education Regulations (GMER) 2023. 

Why is there a need for a new GMER?

• The medical world is a changed place with emerging diseases, changing demands and expectations of stakeholders also require the change. 

Issues with Present Medical Education in India:

• Lack of seats: India has very few medical seats for which there is intense competition and many aspirants are unable to pursue their dream careers. 
• Outdated Syllabus: The medical studies syllabus in India is not updated accordingly.
• Poor Quality: Colleges are lacking proper infrastructure — land, laboratories, equipment, and trained faculty.
• Insufficient Teacher-Student Ratio: The ratio is not up to the mark in many private colleges in India.
• Lack of Research and Innovation: There is less funding for research and innovation which results in poor research.
• Very Costly: It is difficult for major sections of Indians to afford private medical education.
• Lack of Social Accountability: Indian medical students do not receive training which permeates them with social accountability.

Significances of Graduate Medical Education Regulations (GMER) 2023:

• Multifaceted Approach: The new regulations aimed at making medical education more learner-centric, patient-centric, gender-sensitive, outcome-oriented and environment-appropriate, while continuing to anchor on the basic principles of teaching medicine. 
• Ethically Sensitive: The regulations were progressive in introducing a longitudinal programme based on attitude, ethics, and communication competencies for young medical students.
• Early Clinical Experience: All skills young medicos will benefit from in the real world.
• Didactic Friendly: It had specified that didactic lectures would not exceed a third of the schedule.
• Interactive Study: The bulk of the course would include interactive sessions, practicals, clinical experience, and case studies. 
• Family Adoption: It also introduced a new family adoption programme through village outreach, for each MBBS student, and a ‘pandemic module’. 

Other Significant Changes: 

• Less Time Duration: Reduction of the overall time period for students to complete the MBBS course to nine years (from 10).
• Fixed Attempts: Fixed number of attempts to clear papers
• Counseling: Common counseling for admission from 2024. 
• Supplementary Examinations: If a student failed to clear any exam, he/she could have appeared in the supplementary examination, the results of which were to be processed within three-six weeks. The students, if successful, could have proceeded with the same batch.

Conclusion:

There is an urgent need to take a relook at all aspects of the system, and adapt them with the changing requirements, including demography, socio-economic contexts, and advancements in science and technology.

News Source: The Hindu