Medical faculty members in Bihar will go back to classrooms, as students, after almost two to three decades.
The Medical Council of India (MCI) has prepared a revised basic course for medical education and made it mandatory for faculty members to undergo its training. Those who do not complete it by January 1, 2017, will be de-rostered, says the MCI advisory.
With reluctance towards the optional training, the MCI last August made it mandatory as part of framing the Indian Medical Graduate Regulation, 2015.
In Bihar, there is an acute scarcity of trained faculty. “Hardly 10 of the 150-plus faculty members at the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) had undergone the training till it was optional,” said its principal, Dr SN Sinha.
The count in the other eight state-run medical colleges is worse.
“So far, only eight doctors each from the PMCH, Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH), and the Darbhanga Medical College Hospital (DMCH) have completed the revised training course after it was made mandatory,” said PMCH training coordinator Dr Amarkant Jha Amar.
Besides, four faculty members each from the Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College Hospital (Gaya), and the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital (Bhagalpur); two from the Vardhaman Institute of Medical Sciences (Pawapuri); and one from the Government Medical College Hospital (Bettiah) were trained.
Realising the need for uniformity in medical curriculum and in its teaching, the MCI revised its basic training course, stressing on teaching module, making sessions interactive, with emphasis on practical.
