The Real Purpose Of The Medical College

August 25, 2023

GS Paper II Indian Polity and Governance

Context:

Recently, from Kerala, a State with one of the most advanced health care systems in the country, a report of medical negligence has been observed where it was found that a surgical instrument had been left in the patient’s stomach.

Also, growing vacancies in seats to Bachelor of Dental Surgery and Master of Dental Surgery courses in dental colleges across the country are a matter of concern.

Level of Care	Description	Focus	Examples
Primary Care	First point of contact for basic health needs. Usually provided by general practitioners (GPs) or family doctors.	Preventive care, basic treatment, and health education.	Regular check-ups, vaccinations, common cold treatment.
Secondary Care	More specialized than primary care. Involves and specialized medical professionals and facilities for specific conditions.	Diagnosis, treatment, and management of specific health issues.	Specialist consultation (e.g., cardiologist, specific health dermatologist), X-rays, and minor surgeries.
Tertiary Care	Highly specialized and complex medical care. Often provided in large hospitals with advanced medical equipment.	Specialized surgeries, complex treatments, and rare treatments.	Organ transplants, open-heart surgery, cancer treatments.

A Medical College:

A medical college hospital with state-of-the-art facilities is established with a view to ensure bedside care, a mandatory requirement for an apprenticeship, and is the most crucial component in medical training.
An institution that has dual purposes:
- Educational Role: An institution for the education and training of students to become medical professionals through teaching and internship.
- Medical Care: It is expected that patients with serious illnesses can avail services from medical colleges anytime when they have a referral from the lower-level facilities.
Need: The policy proposal of 2019 by the Union government to convert district hospitals to medical colleges, along with a policy of sanctioning an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-like institution in every State, highlights the need to examine the contribution of medical colleges in patient care from a public health perspective.

Challenges faced by the Healthcare System in India:

Poor Infrastructure and Connectivity
Overloading of Patients
Mismatch between Patient Needs and Provided Services
Deficient Referral System
Shortage of Specialists
Non-functionality of Secondary-level Care Facilities

Way Forward:

Awareness: To avoid myths, awareness and education of people is a must.
Need to Redefine Priorities: Need to strengthen secondary-care facilities, particularly district hospitals, which can cater to wider curative care requirements.
Enhance Referral Systems: Need to implement and reinforce the efficient referral systems from primary healthcare centers to well-equipped district hospitals.
Strengthening of Infrastructure & Connectivity: Need to focus on development of existing infrastructure, connectivity and clinical facilities.
A Standard Approach: A standard model and approach should be built by consensus and then need to be adhered strictly to avoid mismatching like some district hospitals that have a history of resisting the proposal to convert to medical colleges and are still doing well in patient care.
Prioritization: Secondary-care facilities need to be prioritized over large state-of-the-art medical colleges if curative care needs of the people are the priority.