New Delhi: Undergraduate medical students
are all set to get more practical training with the Medical
Council of India proposing an innovative curriculum to bridge
the gap between theory and practice.
The curriculum proposed by a special panel set up for
the purpose by the MCI would be structured to facilitate
horizontal and vertical integration between disciplines,
bridging gaps between theory and practice and between
hospital-based medicine and community medicine.
Basic and laboratory sciences (integrated with their
clinical relevance) would be maximum in the first year and
will progressively decrease in the second and third years as
the curriculum progresses, according to the proposed
curriculum.
The essentials of basic and laboratory sciences would
be taught in the first year and built on in the subsequent
years.
Similarly, certain subjects will get extra lectures
from the first year onwards. For example, approximately eight
radiology lectures can be included in anatomy to teach
students cross sectional anatomy of brain, abdomen, foetal
anatomy during embryology teaching etc during first year
itself.
This practice is already being followed by Maulana
Azad Medical College, New Delhi. This model can be adopted by
other colleges as well, without changing the number of lecture
hours (by integration).
Forensic Medicine can be effectively taught during
gynaecology and obstetrics (rape, assault), surgery
(injuries), pharmacology (toxicology). Legal experts can be
called for medico-legal issues, the committee said.
Forensic medicine skills can be acquired during
internship such as documentation of medico-legal cases of
alcoholism, suicide or homicide, rape, assault and injury
cases. Infection control section in hospital in now an
important component and that should be included, the committee
felt.
Both horizontal and vertical integration will be used
for making the curriculum more efficient and student friendly.
Details of this are being worked out by expert
committees constituted by MCI in co-ordination with the
undergraduate working group.
PTI
