National Medical Commission

In News

• Recently, the National Medical Commission has issued  guidelines on professional responsibilities of the medical education fraternity.

About

• The guidelines explain the code of conduct for teachers and students while studying/working, relationship between a teacher and student, expectations from the two (personal attributes and conduct) and their collective responsibility to the community. 
• It reiterates that Sexual orientation, gender and socio-economic class should not be the basis for any discrimination.

National Medical Commission

• The National Medical Commission Act of 2019 establishes the National Medical Commission (NMC), which is responsible for the creation and regulation of all elements of medical education, practice, and institutions.
• There are four boards in the National Medical Commission
  • Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB)
  • Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB)
  • Medical Assessment and Rating Board
  • Ethics and Medical Registration Board.
•  National Medical Commission consists of  25 members including 
  • The Chairperson, Presidents of Postgraduate Medical Education Boards, and Presidents of Undergraduate Medical Education Boards 
  • Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
  • Director General of Health Services.

Challenges of Medical Education in India

• Demand-Supply Mismatch: There is a serious demand-supply mismatch as well as inadequate seats in terms of population norms. In private colleges, these seats are priced between Rs 15-30 lakh per year (not including hostel expenses and study material).
• Lack of skills: Though the institutes are managing to hire professors and lecturers, there is a lack of technical skills. Finding faculties in clinical and non-clinical disciplines is difficult and there are very few faculty development programs for upskilling the existing lot.
• Lack of research and innovation: The medical research and innovation needs an added push as there haven’t been many ground-breaking research here. The education system needs to focus more on increasing the quality of research. Additionally since industry academia partnership is not available, hence innovation also takes a back-seat.
• Issues of Skilled Faculty: The government’s initiative to open new medical colleges has run into a serious faculty crunch. Except at the lowest level, where new entrants come, all that the new colleges have done is poach faculty from a current medical college. Academic quality continues to be a serious concern.
• Backdated syllabus and teaching style: Regular breakthroughs take place in the medical field every day, but the medical studies syllabus in India is not updated accordingly.
• Lack of Social Accountability: Indian medical students do not receive training which instills in them social accountability as health practitioners.

Govt Initiatives

• NMC bill: The National Medical Commission Bill, 2019 was passed recently by the parliament. The bill sets up the National Medical Commission (NMC) which will act as an umbrella regulatory body in the medical education system. The NMC will subsume the MCI and will regulate medical education and practice in India. Apart from this, it also provides for reforms in the medical education system.
• Competency-based medical education : The Medical Council of India (MCI) launched the globally recognized Competency-based medical education (CBME) for MBBS students in 2019. The CBME curriculum seeks to step away from a content-based syllabus and more towards one that is more practical and aligned with the country’s increasing health demands.
• Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY): 22 new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) were developed under this initiative, and MBBS classes have already commenced at 18 of the new AIIMS.

Way Forward

• The aim of today’s medical education should be able to groom professionals to face medical challenges  of the 21st century. Indian medical education has a long way to go in this regard

Source:TH