In a major shift from the 60-year-old tradition in
medical education in the country, those who
wish to practice in future would have to follow up their MBBS course with a
licentiate examination.
The idea is to allow only those who clear the licentiate
India Medical Graduates (IMG) degree
test, after a one-year internship, to do
medical practice in the country. This is part of the crucial reforms mooted by
the Medical Council of India (MCI) which will come up for discussion at the
national summit to be held at Manekshaw Centre, Parade Road, Delhi, on
September 12.
If the proposals are accepted, MBBS graduates would have
to complete a one-year internship in a hospital for appearing for the licentiate
examination.
Director of Medical Education (Kerala) Dr V Geetha told
Express that the principals from medical colleges in the State have been
invited to the meet.
They are expected to give suggestions based on the local
needs of the state, she said.
Other sources also said that the Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS) had suggested some
alternatives to some of the proposals included in the draft reforms. One of the
main suggestion put forward by the MCI is the abolition of entrance examination for PG courses.
Students will be selected for the PG courses on the basis
of the marks obtained at the MBBS level and the marks obtained in the
internship to get the IMG. Students for the PG courses will be selected from a
national-level merit list, prepared after taking into account the marks
obtained in the theory test and in the licentiate test.
The MCI is planning to implement the new reforms as
optional from 2013 and want to make it mandatory from 2017.
Students in the
under-graduate level will have to do a foundation course for two months
comprising of medical ethics, communication, health economics, biohazards and
environmental issues,in tune with the proposed reforms.
For the PG programme, the suggestion is for introducing a
new two-year M Med scheme.
After obtaining M Med, students will have the option of
getting MD, dual degrees, PhD and DM.
As per the draft paper of the MCI, the number of examinations of MBBS will be reduced from four to three.
The KUHS had suggested that all subjects now taught for
MBBS course like Forensic medicine, ENT, Ophthalmology have to be retained.
KUHS has suggested adding a few more subjects such as ethics and geriatrics to
the curriculum of the course.
Another KUHS suggestion is that many subjects which have
been proposed as electives like Immunology, Genetics, Human Nutrition and
Emergency Medicine should be made compulsory subjects.
