New Regulations Of MCI

MAKE PRACTICE PERFECT, DOCTORS TOLD THE MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA (MCI) HAS MADE IT MANDATORY FOR DOCTORS TO LOG 30 HOURS OF CONTINUED MEDICAL EDUCATION EVERY FIVE YEARS.

"Something is better than nothing" this old saying does not apply to medical education. Little learning is a dangerous thing, goes the old adage. But the times they are a changing. Un-up-dated skills and knowledge, they now say, can be even more dangerous, especially when it relates to the field of healthcare.

The concept of continued medical education (CME) came to India decades ago, but it had never been taken seriously. Now, the Medical council of India (MCI) has made if mandatory for doctors to log 30 hours of CME every five years to retain their registration.

"In the US, doctors are expected to have at least 30 hours of CME every year. Here, the MCI wants medical professional to do much less but it is a good beginning. A one-time medical degree has no meaning. Till now, participation in CME programs had been voluntary and attendance poor. The general practitioners' Association, for instance, conducts five sessions every week. Barely 10 percent of the members take part in the programs. "Worse still, they are the same people every week," despite the fact there are about 10,000 general physicians in the city.

At present, the certification process is ad hoc. While some give out CME certificates to participants, others like the Indian Medical association in Mumbai don't.

Medical circles have welcomed the new rule making CME compulsory but they are not sure how it will be implemented. "The MCI needs to lay down who will certify a programme as part of CME and how," says Anil Kumar, former president of the Cardio logical Society of India.

Since not all CME-dubbed programs may be worthy of being certified as such, the MCI will have to devise a way to accredit programs, doctors say. In the US, as associations like the American College of Cardiology and the American Medical Association accredit programs scientifically.

Rapid changes are taking place in the world of medicine and one can stay ignorant only at one's own peril, particularly if one deals in specialized fields like cardiology, neurology or surgery. "Ideally, the MCI should form an accreditation committee and sub-committees for each speciality and zone," says a doctor.