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India plans new curriculum for
doctors: MBBS (Rural)
WSN Network
 NEW
DELHI: "What kind of a doctor are you?"
"Rural, Sir."
That's the kind
of thing you would soon hear in the medical profession in India. In
a rather peculiar plan to ensure that doctors serve in rural areas,
Indian government is mulling plans to create an alternative cadre
that will work exclusively in villages.
About 50
students from each state will be selected and taught in a rural
setting for most part of the four-and-a-half years degree, to serve
in their own district after graduation.
The Medical
Council of India (MCI) has the syllabus ready. “We have proposed
that it be called MBBS (Rural), with some restrictions, such as the
doctors cannot practice in urban areas for the first 10 years,” said
Dr Ketan Desai, president, MCI.
After 10 years,
the student can apply for a post-graduation medical degree.
“The medical
education has limitations and deficiencies when it comes to making
doctors serve in rural area,” said Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
“Once doctors study in cities, they don’t want to go back to rural
areas and no amount of incentives has made them do this. So we need
an alternative model... to create rural doctors.”
In India, there
is one doctor for every 1,500 patients. The World Health
Organization recommends a doctor for every 250 patients.
The model —
called innovation in medical education — proposes teaching, training
and learning to be acquired at three different phases.
Instead of
sitting for a medical entrance examination, students will be
selected from the catchment area of primary health centres on the
basis of marks obtained in “intermediate examination (Class XII)
with Physics, Chemistry and Biology as a subject”. Weightage would
be given to the applicants who have studied in village schools.
14
October 2009
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