Advanced course in medical education lauched at CMCH

To provide competency-based education to medical educators and resource persons, Dr Ved Prakash Mishra, chairman, academic committee, Medical Council of India (MCI), launched a one-year advanced course in medical education at Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) here on Monday.

The MCI had introduced the programme for resource persons and medical educators early this year. Nearly 45 resource persons from 17 nodal centres of the council across the country will be participating in the four-day national-level orientation programme.

Talking to Hindustan Times, Dr Mishra said: “There was no specialised teaching course in the medical field earlier. We expect that the new course will be effective because a good teacher in medical education will produce best doctors, who inturn, will serve the society.”

Dr Mishra said the MCI had launched a basic course in medical education in 2009 and in the last five years, nearly 16,000 teachers had done that basic course that counted to be nearly 30% of the total medical teaching staff in the country. The teachers, who had already done the basic course, would be benefitted with the advanced course, he said.

Quality education was the need of hour and it should be provided by competent teachers only. Learning and teaching were two different concepts and with this course, the council was trying to make faculty more equipped with latest updates and techniques for better learning, he said.

He said the council had advised to introduce integrated and competency-based undergraduate medical course which was under consideration of executive committee of the MCI. The objective of the structuring of curriculum was to bring competency-based education so that Indian Medical Graduates (IMG), who are considered good in theory, could also be good in application of the theory and could produce that learning in a holistic manner.

Dr Inderjeet Singh, coordinator of the nodal centre, and Dr AG Thomas, director of CMCH, were also present on the occasion. Dr Singh said there were 17 nodal centres of medical education in the country and CMCH was the only nodal centre in the northern India.