On the neglect of India’s biomedical scientists in healthcare, medical education & Research , denial of opportunities in the area of education
Several findings and reports, including those of the parliament’s standing committee and NITI Aayog, have consistently found fault with the way Medical Council of India handled medical education in India. MCI was tasked with “maintenance of uniform standards of medical education”, in which it had failed miserably. Barring few exceptions, the current standards of medical education are abysmal. No wonder despite having 460 medical colleges, not one features in the global top 100 ranking. With the possible replacement of MCI with the National Medical Commission (NMC) is set to change the way India conducts its medical education.
Healthcare is not only about medical education or the creation of doctors; there are other components to it, which also needs the government’s attention and focus. Like the council for medical education, there are separate councils for dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and traditional Indian medicines. There are several other branches associated with the healthcare, whose professionals include physiotherapists, optometrists, laboratory technicians, imaging technologists etc, who have no such councils. Some states have their own councils but the center hasn’t framed one yet. The bill “Allied and Healthcare Professional’s Central Council” drafted in 2015 is in the cold storage. Health is a state subject, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure high standards and good quality in all aspects of the healthcare. The central government has passed the Clinical Establishments Act (CEA) to regulate all institutions that offer healthcare; however, it is subjected to the adoption by the states.
Lost in the conundrum and din of medical education and the clinical establishments, a vital component of healthcare- the biomedical scientists have been largely ignored. Not much is known about them or there are misconceptions floating around. These are the persons with Medical Master of Science (M.Sc) degree obtained in the medical colleges and awarded by the health universities under the faculty of medicine. Along with all the medical courses, Medical M.Sc courses also feature in the first schedule of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. Many of these biomedical scientists hold Ph.D as well.
Owing to the critical shortage of teachers in the non-clinical subjects of the MBBS course, medical M.Sc postgraduate courses were thrown open to the non-doctors. Graduates with B.Sc in any branch of life sciences could enroll in these three-year courses. At some point in time, more than 90 medical colleges in India conducted these courses, many of which have stopped now. The MCI, which used to sanction permission to run these courses in the medical colleges, stopped this practice. The process of enrolling persons with these degrees in the medical council’s register too stopped. Essentially, MCI washed its hands off completely from this course. With none to regulate them, the onus was on the respective universities, which resulted in variations in the conduct of these courses. However, in principle, the curriculum and syllabus of the Medical M.Sc course in the pre-clinical subjects (Anatomy, Biochemistry & Physiology) and para-clinical subjects (Pharmacology & Microbiology) are mostly similar to those of M.D degree in these specialties.
The two courses often run parallel to each other in the same department using the same set of teachers, laboratories, and resources. Like their counterparts pursuing MD courses, students of the medical M.Sc courses too undertake seminars, journal presentations, dissertations, case discussions, etc during their training period. The first year of these courses is similar to the syllabus of the first year MBBS, so that people from non-medical background understand the basic structure and functioning of the human body. Depending on the policies of the individual institution, they are also exposed to the central diagnostic laboratory, hospitals, and the teaching modalities. In the diagnostic specialties of Biochemistry and Microbiology, the principles of diseases processes, methods of diagnosing them with laboratory tests, principles and procedures, quality control and interpretation of laboratory reports are an integral part of the syllabus. Students of these courses undergo an examination pattern similar to that of MD courses and are examined by Professors of the medical colleges. Persons with medical M.Sc degree are deemed qualified to undertake the roles of teachers in non-clinical subjects, consultants in diagnostic laboratories and scientists in research institutions.
(To be concluded)