NMC's global accreditation underscores its role in quality education, scientific practices: Parl panel

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel observed that an international accreditation to NMC, India's statutory body that regulates medical education and institutes, underlines its responsibility towards strengthening an equitable quality education system and evidence-based practices.

The World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) has conferred the "international accreditation" for a period of ten years to the National Medical Commission (NMC). The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, in a report presented to Rajya Sabha on Thursday, said that the accreditation has entrusted the NMC with a pivotal role to consolidate high quality medical education in the country.

The NMC is tasked with ensuring quality medical education for fostering affordability and accessibility to future generations' healthcare needs. The panel said only a robust and modern medical education system with adequate investment on advanced physical infrastructure and skilled and trained faculty would be a guarantee for a better healthcare in the future.

"...international accreditation to NMC is not the end of NMC's role but the beginning of its responsibility towards strengthening equitable quality education system across the country with due impetus on evidence based practices with scientific and modern advancement, critical thinking to imbibe professional pursuit, ethical integrity and social behavioral inclination amongst medical practitioners," it said in its report.

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Panel flags stagnation in health research funding

The committee expressed dissatisfaction with the response of the government on the committee's recommendation on budgetary support to research work. It said that spending by both the government as well as the medical colleges in health research has remained stagnant in terms of percentage of GDP since last few financial years and recommended that medical research and innovation needs massive impetus.

The panel stated that there is an urgent need to substantially increase the government expenditure on health research infrastructure or provide incentives and an ecosystem to collaborate with leading private research firms.

To have result-oriented and gainful research, the committee reiterated its recommendation that the government should formulate guidelines to decide on priority research fields based on disease burden and focus areas of the country. For this, colleges can form a collegium of senior faculties and decide on the research priority, it said.

Funds for such research should be partly provided by the institute and partly by government agencies like ICMR, the panel added.

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Foreign medical graduates face hurdles

The committee also observed that, in view of the huge number of aspiring MBBS students and limited seats for them in various colleges, a "high number of students" seek admission outside the country. However, foreign medical graduates have to face "herculean challenges" in passing the license examination and while seeking a permanent registration across various states.

The Foreign Medical Graduate Regulation, 2021, mandates one year of compulsory rotating medical internship as additional training in medical education hospitals or in big non-teaching hospitals.

Since, to some extent, foreign medical graduates are useful in maintaining the doctor-to-population ratio, therefore, the committee reiterated its recommendation that FMG Regulations 2021 should act as a facilitator, thereby streamlining the registration and internship procedures while keeping the quality assurance of the Indian healthcare system.

"In order to improve the doctor-to-population ratio and to reduce the reliance on foreign medical graduates, it would be appropriate for the government to encourage expansion of medical colleges in the country to accommodate the education of MBBS aspiring students in the country itself," the panel said.

NExT, expansion of medical colleges

Reiterating its earlier recommendation, the panel said the National Exit Test (NExT) should be introduced to "instill a universal and standardised assessment of medical graduates having uniform level of knowledge and skills and ultimately leading to quality medical education and training across the country".

The NExT was a paradigm shift in teaching methods, learning approaches, critical assessment through MBBS courses, it said. The panel recommended that the committee reconstituted under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog members submit its recommendation as per the pre-conceived schedule.

"The committee reiterates its recommendation that the government should divide India into different zones and in each zone reputed institutes like AIIMS can function as mentor institutes for all the other medical colleges in that zone. "Mentor institutes shall play a significant role in monitoring the standard of education and the classes in the newly set medical colleges or private medical colleges," the report said.