With the the Medical Council of India publishing a draft of the revised MBBS curriculum, medical students in the State are planning to hold discussions on campuses to highlight its features.
The draft focusses on doctor-patient relationship and medical ethics, a month-long foundation course for students from various backgrounds, and clinical exposure in the first year.
The Kerala chapter of the United Resident Doctors Association (URDA), a national forum of resident doctors in medical colleges, is planning a workshop in Kottayam by month end on the updated curriculum.
The curriculum recognises the importance of training students to be good doctors as well as good communicators. The course called Attitude, Ethics and Communication will run across years. The students will be assessed on their communication with patients; how they counsel people for challenging procedures such as organ donation and how sensitively do they offer care and get consent.
According to Rahul U.R., general secretary, URDA Kerala chapter, medical students in Western countries such as the U.S. are getting weightage for communication skills. The group discussions planned at the workshop would focus on how bringing in a similar system would help medical graduates here.
Another notable feature in the curriculum is the introduction of elective subjects to help students pick subjects of their choice. It provides clinical exposure to students in the very first year instead of the second. “Though this move is expected to help students to specialise in a particular branch, there is apprehension it will lead to a shortage of general medical practitioners,” he pointed out.
Titled ‘Competency-based UG Curriculum for the Indian Medical Graduate,’ the curriculum stresses on doctor-patient relationship and medical ethics instead of rote and classroom learning.
Foundation course
A month-long foundation course has been brought in for those from diverse backgrounds. There have been reports of students committing suicide under pressure of learning, due to lack of language skills and the inability to cope with the hectic schedule. The session planned at Kottayam is expected to be followed by similar events in other private and government medical colleges.