Crisis in Indian Medical Education - Time to Verify the Issues

CRISIS IN INDIAN MEDICAL EDUCATION
Time to verify the Issues

Dr.T.V.Rao MD

Improving the health of a common man is a Universal priority, every elected Government should fall in line to show the citizens that health is a concern for them, they promise to find ways to improve it. India continues to spend less on basic health care when compared with many of our neighboring Nations. India with mass population base of more than 1 billion can do little to date; the existing Governmental system is compromised with politics, lethargy, and corruption. The vision to start many Medical colleges in India in private sector has greatly changed the face of National health in the last three decades. Many Institutes are recognized as centers of excellence and produced many competent Doctors who are no less than Doctors created by the reputed Government Institutions Recently there is sudden surge of several Medical colleges in private sector The challenges to run a private medical college are many and much more difficult than running a Government Medical College. The Medical Council of India regulates to build infrastructure, and bring in qualified and experienced persons who are more of spent out force, few have current perceptions to build modern Institutions, and many have to compromise with private managements. The Medical council is interested in physical verification and head counting. No body asks about our vision to develop the Department or College. If the present number of establishing Medical Colleges continues will produce substandard Doctors who are outdated even for today’s needs. The results are evident with mushrooming of private Medical and Nursing College’s producing less equipped, less productive and highly exploitive doctors. But question remains who will bear the burden, the answer is certainly innocent public. In spite of several difficulties the private medical institutes should create something more imaginative so our students are prepared to improve the health system and adapt rapidly to changing health scenario in the Nation. The present resentment of our young medical graduates to go to rural areas exposes, that we have created Doctors for urban care and comforts, they are afraid to work alone without guidance of seniors The major fault lies with us we are producing graduates in modern medicine with modern facilities without teaching adoption to poor patients and rural need, In allopathic system of Medicine we are teaching on evidence based protocols , proving good in theory and poor in practice The question comes are we elders justified in blaming young Doctors who are not willing to go rural areas. Many policy makers have no idea of rural life; make policies on paper which will never work. In next few decades only private medical institutes will decide the future of Nations health. It is time that upcoming Institutes should decide their priorities, can we do the best care of patients, create and encourage better teachers and save many lives. Our less performing Medical graduate’s lies with poor practical training, rapid expansion made many Doctors as teachers without passion for teaching imparting poor knowledge. The greatest down fall of our degrees lies without poor practical assessment of our students. Many private management’s asses the teacher’s capabilities to produce good percentage of results, every sincere teacher is a loser in the present commercial system of education where managements market results as source of their strength. There are several medical colleges started in the last 5 -10 years, waiting for social judgments, and people are watching how they perform, and many substandard students awarded degrees will spoil the reputation of their parent Institutions. We are certain to see many Medical graduates produced in the substandard Institutes are harmful, non competitive and bring in dangerous trends in Medical Profession Several medical institutions which do not comply with ethics and integrity will certainly face Darwin’s law waiting to set right things. It is time Medical Council of India should monitor the events and start Academic grading and continued performance based support in need of crisis in upcoming Medical colleges, otherwise vision of elders making our’s as healthy Nation will be a unachievable dream.

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