Medical curriculum needs modification: Academician

Vijayawada, Feb 18 (UNI) National Academy of Medical Sciences president Prema Ramachandran today said the country's medical education programme required a modification as it had failed to create a workforce to meet healthcare needs of the people.

Speaking at the XIIth annual convocation of Dr NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) here, Dr Prema said nearly one-third of the posts in medical colleges were vacant and people with no teaching experience were occupying many of these posts.

Lack of qualified faculty had adversely affected the quality of medical education and would inevitably lead to poor quality of healthcare, Dr Prema, who is also Director of the Nutrition Foundation of India (NFI), said.

Both teachers and students were finding it difficult to keep track of the inventions and expanding technology in the medical field. The current education system did not help the students to develop clinical and analytical skills required to function effectively in the primary health care settings, she said.

The country had embarked on a massive expansion of medical and para-professional training programme to generate adequate health personnel to take care of the needs of the growing population in urban and rural areas.

Pointing out that the medical colleges in the country had trained students from neighbouring countries right from the sixties, who, in the later stage, had contributed greatly to the healthcare and service sector in their own countries, she said it was essential to build up an integrated health system.

Currently, over 20,000 undergraduates and 12,000 post-graduates were being trained in about 200 medical colleges every year, she said.

As a result of commercialisation, medical education had become very expensive and this had some impact on the students enrolling for the course and their career plans.

India should support the health workforce policies within the country's overall development policy. It should also review and modify the medical curriculum to address national health priorities by improving the quality of teachers, engaged in pre-service education and in-service training.

NTRUHS Vice-Chancellor A V Krishnam Raju, speaking on the occasion said a new course on MBA Hospital Administration was introduced from this academic year as a part of the MoU inked with Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur.

He said the university had instituted cash awards from this year as a token of appreciation for sportspersons among the students.

UNI CS SJ AE KN1746