Mysuru: India is one of the largest producers of technically-trained health manpower in the world, said Dr Vedprakash Mishra, chairman of academics sub-committee, Medical Council of India.
Delivering the keynote address at Medical Education Conference MECon-2016 being organized by JSS Medical College, JSS University, at Rajendra auditorium here on Saturday, he said: "According to a report, around 40,000 medical students graduate from 425 colleges across India every year. In 2016, their number will rise to 58,000. More than 59,000 mecial graduates are pursuing post-graduation. According to WHO, there will be a huge global shortage of trained doctors by 2020, and India will be one of the five countries that can meet the shortage. Hence, there should be a standard and uniform medical education across India to deliver the constitutional mandate of equitable access to healthcare. In the near future, every third healthcare professional in the world will be from India. Thus, medical schools should strive and generate medical graduates who can meet global standards."
"We are all bound by constitutional propositions, which provide sufficient guidance on the responsibilities of doctor and medical educationists. India is moving towards the philosophy of 'right for adequate health for all'. If we want to provide health for all, we must create a generation of quality healthcare providers. For that, we have to impart quality medical education among students. The quality of medical schools completely depends on the quality of medical teachers. Thus, the onus of quality health education is on medical colleges and the faculty there. There are ways to achieve the goal, and it includes enrichment of medical schools and medical teachers with adequate infrastructure and academic environment, achieving uniformity without compromising on autonomy and diversity, setting realistic objectives for medical education, and introduce innovations in assessment and feedback system. Some of the measures MCI has taken to bring changes in medical education include faculty-development programmes across medical schools in the country, competency-based curriculum at undergraduate and post-graduate teaching, achieving accreditation of Indian medical schools on a par with those in the west, capacity building of medical teachers by empowering them with special training in medical education technologies. Indian medical graduates should equip themselves so as to be international medical graduates and be globally competent," Dr Vedprakash added.
The conference features five guest lectures and four panel discussions. The topics covered include assessment for learning, educational research, imparting clinical skills, humanities and ethics in medical education, academic leadership, professionalism, Expectations from Indian medical graduates in 21st century and enhanced role of Medical Education Units in translation from workshops to practice. Over 30 resource faculties from the field of medical education from across the country are attending the programme.
Dr DK Srinivas, dean (retd), JIPMER, Puducherry, B Manjunatha, registrar, JSS University, P A Kushalappa, director (academics), JSS University, were present.
