Graduate
Curriculum Committee to Revise the Medical Curriculum in India
By PIB, India
Mar 31, 2005, 20:32

The Central Government in India is to set up a Curriculum Committee to revise the medical curriculum in the next one or two years.

This was stated by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss in response to certain suggestions by private and Government medical and dental college representatives in a meeting here today. He pointed out that there was a need to revise the curriculum not only to include newer courses and more practical oriented education but also to make it socially oriented and rural oriented.

In the first meeting of its kind, the Health and Family Welfare Ministry today invited more than 200 representatives of medical and dental college management to discuss issues relating to medical education.

Reacting to a suggestion that the retirement age of teachers in medical colleges should be raised from 65 to 70, he said the matter will be looked into. In order to boost medical healthcare on availability in rural areas, the Minister said that they are deliberating a proposal to make a rural stint necessary before either getting a Graduation Certificate or before applying for a Post-Graduate course.

The Health Minister exhorted the participants to increase medical colleges in backward areas. He said, of the 229 medical colleges in the country, 143 were in the four southern states and Maharashtra and Gujarat. Of the 229 medical colleges, 104 were in the private sector.

Reacting to a suggestion for regulating pay structures of doctors, the Minister said that the Government was planning to set up a Medical Grants Commission on the lines of the University Grants Commission. He said, there was a need to start courses on family medicines and public health and in order to maximize the technical experience, there was a need to network. He said, the Pharmaco Vigilance Committee which was set up recently was a network of 229 pharma departments across the country and was done with the aim to maximize the available resources and even explore possibilities of funding research. The Minister said that a stringent view will be taken of excess admission in the colleges as well as proxy teachers.

The Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Panabaka Lakshmi said that the aim of the meeting was to bring quality education into the medical arena. She said that the Government was committed to transparency and any participant was welcome to come to the Ministry to discuss any grievance.

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