Expressing concern over the falling standard of education in both public and private medical colleges affecting patient care and healthcare quality in the country, Dr Kaushal Pandey, one of the renowned consultant cardiovascular surgeons associated with P. D. Hinduja National Hospital & Research Center, has stressed on the need for a major overhaul of the medical education system to produce quality doctors to ensure high quality healthcare.

“India produces around 50,000 MBBS doctors annually as compared to 18,000 doctors in USA but training of our doctors are not up to the mark as compared to doctors abroad. In India, the MBBS students do not get enough exposure to clinical materials and surgical procedures during the course to become well trained doctors, and there are a chunk of students who don’t have aptitude to become a doctor but they join a medical college just because their parents manage to secure seats for them in the medical college. Such doctors are risk for patients. The quality of the faculty in medical colleges is also not up to the mark,” said Dr. Pandey.

There is no legal compulsion for doctors to undergo re-training in the country. There is no system to audit the doctors on any quality of care measures which provide them freedom to do whatever they want after the basic qualification is secured. In absence of scrutinisation and monitoring to ensure accountability of doctors in public hospitals in both urban and rural areas, absenteeism among doctors has become common sight leaving scores of needy patients in lurch. It is not the case with private hospitals which have a stringent monitoring system to make doctors accountable to patient care, he said.

“If the government is really worried about people’s health and if the country is to stay competitive globally, it has to exercise its authority to introduce reform to medical entrance test so that students having aptitude to become a doctor get admission to medical colleges. Commercialisation of medical education flooding the market with poor quality doctors should be stopped at the earliest without any loss. The exorbitant capitation fees charged by private medical institutes from students should be regulated to make education affordable for deserving and needy students and steps need to be taken to overhaul the regulatory framework pertaining to quality of instruction, faculty development and curbing private practice,” noted cardiac surgeon said.

In order to overcome the shortage of quality faculty members in public medical colleges, the government needs to revive the old honourary system attached to healthcare in the country where talented, renowned doctors used to conduct classes for students in government medical colleges for two-three days imparting them theoretical and practical insight into the course. They used to charge nominal fees for it, he added.

He said that the government also needs to make integrated protocol-based diagnoses and treatment systems into the teaching programme for medical students and make them take a test after a certain period to ensure their skills updation and encourage use of technology with applications like clinical decision support systems to improve the quality of healthcare delivery.

Geographical location and infrastructure facilities should be taken into account in starting an AIIMS like institutes in the country by the government to ensure maximum optimisation of such facilities, he concluded.