Quality check must for trained health manpower
By 2015, India is likely to generate 32 per cent of the total capacity of trained health personnel in the world
JOB ON HAND: It’s a challenge for the country to generate sufficient numbers of well-trained health professionals.
The world over a health crisis is brewing with respect to generating trained health manpower and the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that it will be only four countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- that will generate surplus trained health manpower.
In this lies the challenge to medical education in the country -- to generate sufficient numbers of well-trained professionals for India, and in addition ensure that there is a surplus that can be harnessed by the rest of the world, says P. C. Kesavankutty Nair, acting president, Medical Council of India (MCI).
Charting the future path of medical education in the country, Dr. Nair, outlined the steps that the administration would have to take in order to reach the goal of self-sufficiency and quality assurance.
In the context of the platinum jubilee of the MCI, it was time for introspection. Over a period of time there had been a significant expansion in the avenues of medical education in the country, and as a result, the nation’s capacity to generate trained manpower had increased manifold. It is estimated that by the year 2015, India would be generating 32 per cent of the total capacity of trained health personnel in the world, Dr. Nair said.
Quality assessment
However, quality assessment must also be carried out. “One needs to evaluate the quality incorporations which are required to be built into the Indian system of medical education,” Dr. Nair said, speaking at a meeting organised by Sri Ramachandra University.
“If we critically look at it we will be forced to accept that the basis of the entire medical education system in the country is quantity-based,” he added.
Accreditation
The lack of a procedure of accrediting institutions providing medical education in the country is a big drawback. Currently, medical colleges are only “recognised” by the MCI requiring compliance of a bare “minimum” set of requirements.
“This, by itself, makes a very loud and clear pronouncement that the compliance for recognition cannot be said to be catering to the desired and optimal levels and requirement of quality incorporation,” Dr. Nair pointed out.
It was to remedy this situation that the MCI had suggested to the government to amend the Indian Medical Council Act of 1956. The proposal, still pending with the government, suggests that a process of accreditation of medical institutions be set in place.
The MCI had also worked out a comprehensive model on accreditation of medical institutions through a study group headed by Ved Prakash Mishra, member, MCI, and submitted this to the government in 2004.
The council had also initiated a process of dialogue among medical institutions in the country on a 27-point agenda to suggest changes to the mode of delivery of teaching in medical education.
The acting president of the MCI also focused on the ethos of socialisation of medical education, as contemplated in the Constitution. He said that by virtue of the dominant role cost is required to play in the present situation, affordability gets sidelined and ability to pay plays a dominant role in the procurement of medical education.
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