The Medical Council of India (MCI) has planned to introduce practical skills to both under graduate and post-graduate medical education by bringing significant changes in the curriculum which will be decided in the national meeting to be held on March 29 in New Delhi.

Source informed that the proposal for the changes in the present  curriculum has already been presented before Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on March 20 and will be announced publicly at the meeting to be held on March 29.

Source further informed that, “The curriculum so far has been totally based on theoretical knowledge and significantly it will give more  importance on how to develop clinical skills. At the beginning of the fifth year the intensive training in clinical skills will help the students to be competent in adopting basic and generic skills.”

An MBBS graduate should be able to take care of the common problems at the secondary and primary level and this is reflected in the low number of graduates, who goes into the practice at the end of their MBBS training.

MCI has been getting suggestions from the industry in this matter. So that they can look at the needs of the people and make the changes accordingly. To keep up with the changes MCI is planning to start 17 new courses and plans to make internship mandatory for all the MBBS students after completing four and half year of their studies. After their internship period a basic doctor will have varied skills of how to treat a patient suffering from fever or tuberculosis.

At the end of five years an under graduate student should be able to perform thoroughly in physical examination of the body and should bear all the clinical skills and if the results are found abnormal they should be able to analyse the results. They should also be able to communicate with patients with ease and have skills such as how to break a bad news and deal with non-cooperative patients etc.

MCI is also expecting that a student should perform safely, confidently and effectively in giving injections and while obtaining a sample of arterial blood and while catheterizing urinary bladder. It further depends on medical skills, surgical skills and emergency skills. The changes in the curriculum will come into effect from the following academic session.