The government has released a
draft National Education Policy 2019, which proposes to make changes in
education including healthcare education.
The policy is in the public
domain, with comments sought from all stakeholders till June 30.
A key recommendation of the
new education policy as far as medical education is concerned is pluralistic
healthcare education and delivery.
P16.8.2: Pluralistic
healthcare education and delivery: “The first year or
two of the MBBS course will be designed as a common period for all
science graduates after which they can take up MBBS, BDS, Nursing or other
specialisations. Common foundational courses based on medical pluralism
will be followed by core courses focused on specific systems, and electives
that encourage bridging across systems. Graduates from other medical
disciplines such as nursing, dental etc., will also be allowed lateral entry
into the MBBS course. A medical education qualification framework to
achieve this will be developed in conjunction with the NMC...”
This means that after class
12, students aspiring to become healthcare professionals will first take up a
common 2 year (or 1 year) course of basic sciences after
clearing a common entrance test and then they can choose a system of medicine
be it MBBS, dentistry, nursing, Ayush, occupational health, physiotherapy, etc.
What is not clear is how
students would be selected for their specific system of choice. Would
it be through an entrance exam? Would each system hold its own separate exam or
a common exam? Or there will be only one exam at this level and for basic
course there will be no common exam.
The initial two-year course
may enable a student to take up teaching as a vocation.
Also, the terms “bridging” and
“lateral entry” have been used out of context here and have created ambiguity
and are therefore open to misinterpretation.
There are debatable issues,
which need to be discussed in stakeholders meeting and several challenges in
their implementation should be anticipated and addressed.
The above thinking is also
premature as the IMC Act is still not abolished. The MCI ordinance is under
challenge in the Supreme Court.
A debate cannot be started on
an assumption that if IMC Act is replaced by NMC what should be the criteria
for education?
Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri Awardee
President Elect Confederation of Medical
Associations in Asia and Oceania
(CMAAO)
Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications
President Heart Care Foundation of
India
Past National President
IMA
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