Indian medical education system is broken, Reuters investigation finds
BMJ 2015; 350 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h3324 (Published 18 June 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h3324
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The curiosity of our colleague,Shirish V Malgi, on this webpage deserves compliment. He wonders that, "45% of doctors are without proper training", and he may wonder whether the statement is true. With the greatest of humility I want to inform him that quackery is a big and disproportionate problem in India, especially in villages (1), considering its nuclear power status (2) and its ambition to get a permanent seat in the U N Security Council (3). We are making remarkable progress on the economic front (4), yet grappling with the problem of shortage of qualified doctors in rural areas.
The Chief Minister of my State, among others, also is rightly worried about this challenge (5). Hence a few big cities and large rural swathes paint a metaphorical picture of " Islands of California in an ocean of Africa" of our Nation. For a few understandable reasons trained doctors don't want to serve the villages and those in the metros remain disconnected with the reality. Therefore we need to realize the problem first to fix it.
Second, he wonders if " 1/6th schools are resorting to corrupt practice". It's now an open secret that, barring a few exceptions, private colleges are involved in minting money, whether in Medicine (6) or elsewhere (7). So improvement of quality of technical education in general, and medical education specifically, has a large gap to fill. This goal should not be obfuscated by different statistics provided by different authors, culled from different sources.
References
(1) Pulla P. Are India's quacks the answer to its shortage of doctors? BMJ 2016;352:i 291, available at http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i291
(2) Ghose D. Breakthrough: India - US end six- year- old impasse over civil nuclear deal. First post 2015, Jan 26, available at http://www.firstpost.com/business/breakthrough-india-us-end-6-year-old-i...
(3) U N Security Council : 'U S supports India's bid for permanent membership', in The Indian Express 2015 Nov 21, available at http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/un-security-coun...
(4) Thank you for recognizing India as "bright spot" in world economy: F M Jaitley to IMF, D N A , 2016 Mar 13 , available at http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-thank-you-for-recognising-india-as-...
(5) Akhilesh expresses concern over shortage of docs in villages. India Today 2016 Apr 11, available at http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/akhilesh-expresses-concern-over-short...
(6) Nagral S. We need to discuss India's reliance on private medical colleges. BMJ 2015;350:h237, available at http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h237
(7) Over 80% of engineering graduates in India unemployable: study. The Times of India 2016 Jan 24, available at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Over-80-of-engineering...
Competing interests: No competing interests
It is a old story but the root cause is the inability of the government system to respond to the demand for need to increase seat capacity in Public funded institutions with a huge subsidy and absolutely no mechanisms for qulity control. The private sector performance is also under the control of Medical Council Of India which is a statutory body created by the Government.It would have been better if the role of private sector in reaching far flung areas is also investigated in increasing access to health and medical care services. Today this sector contributes toabout 60% of teaching beds giving access to specialist services where the government has failed.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Sir,
I wish to bring forth a discrepancy in your article.
At one point, you quote 1/6th schools resorting to corrupt practice, somewhere else in your article you say almost 45% of doctors are without proper training.
Your remarks are derogatory to the entire community of Indian doctors.
Please note that India is a very important tertiary referral center for many complex diseases and procedures, that too at probably at a fractional cost than in the West. All these procedures are carried out by Indian doctors with Indian teams and on Indian soil.
Kindly do let me know how much it costs in the USA or UK to qualify as a consultant.
Please also let me know how many surgeries are performed by a young surgeon in the West before he qualifies?
Or is it possible that he has to be happy with a simulator....?
Please note that the disease pattern, the community, geography, climate and various other factors.
Please let me know how many of your interests will be able to treat tropical diseases? Or MDR TB ???
Please stop being negative.
I agree there are black sheep everywhere.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Sir,
The first sentence of your article itself indicates that it is totally biased. You yourself have mentioned in the article that the government medical schools are good in India and are at par with that of other countries then how can you pass such a loose statement that the medical education system in India is fraudulent? It might be true that there are some medical schools which are substandard but that doesn't give you the right to condemn the whole medical education system of India. This is simply unacceptable to any Indian, particularly the Indian doctors. You yourself have mentioned that fairly a large number of doctors in U.S.A. and Europe are Indians who are among the best doctors of those countries and who have countributed hugely to the health care needs of these countries. Then how can you write such irresponsible comments on the medical education system of India? I feel like any Indian that you must apologise for your unpardonable blunder.
Thanks
Competing interests: No competing interests
There is some fact in this article but I disagree with the statement about the ramifications in US and UK as a result of this.
First of all the author needs to know that there is such an exam called PLAB in the UK and USMLE in the US. All those who practice in the US or UK need to meet the requirements set by the GMC and US authorities. There might be a few postgraduate doctors who come on sponsorship from royal colleges or other professional bodies after graduating from India but they too have very strict rules and regulations.
Indian medical education is better than many other countries, but I do agree there are areas to improve and the MCI and the government can take measures to end corruption.
Competing interests: No competing interests
I would like to draw your attention to one factual error in this article.
Doctors from India do not require further training to be allowed to practise in the UK as claimed . They need to pass a test conducted by the General Medical Council, the PLAB which allows them to then practise. The PLAB tests Professional and Linguistic Ability..
Any training undertaken thereafter is purely up to the practitioner concerned.
Competing interests: No competing interests
India is a vast country with 395 medical colleges both public and private sector undertakings. The Medical Council of India (MCI) regulatory body does maintain the standard and basic norms prescribed to run standard professional medical colleges. India has produced many eminent physicians and teachers who have got global recognition for their service and expertise. As an evolving country with a growing population there is a need to start many medical colleges to attain the standard doctor:patient ratio of 1:1000. MCI takes charge and promotes medical education according to global standards It needs to have another committee that could be an advisory body which could guide the faltering or new institutions to achieve the goals set by them. Every system has it merits and demerits. Ministry of Health and MCI are aware of it, so also are managements who are striving to providing the best possible education to our aspiring doctors.
Let us introspect and improve our medical education so that we might be a model for other educational system or councils to emulate.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Indian medical education system is broken, Reuters investigation finds
According to an Indian newspaper report, an Indian Govt body regulating Ayurveda, yoga and various other " non-allopathic" therapeutic options is making rapid strides. It was further reported that AIDS and various other maladies requiring millions or billions pounds in England can be cured by the local treatment.
Assuming that the reports are correct, it would make sense for the broken system to be demolished completely and replaced by Ayurveda, etc.
Then, the NHS might send patients to India for treatment?
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/260316/aids-cancer...
Competing interests: Old man. Need medical care from time to time (in England, not in India).