Improving Medical Education

There seems to be a strong opinion that medical education needs to be improved. The medical council is holding meetings in different cities, inviting elite doctors and even students to express their opinions. I had been directed to one such meeting a few weeks ago. When I reached there, I discovered that my name was not on the invitees' list. Then I discovered that there was another fellow there who had come from another city for this meeting, and his name was not on the list too. He was furious. “Please write down my name as one who came here, so that my boss knows I went as asked. Then I will go away. I have my OT to attend this meeting” I said this, hoping they would let me go. They wouldn't. They wrote my name down in the invitees' list and sent me into the auditorium. Gradually it became apparent that the list was indeed incomplete, and a lot many people turned up without their names being in the list. They all attended the meeting, and finally there was no place to seat them all. They invited people to speak one by one. People started coming up with suggestions that were wide in scope and not at all organized. Finally they announced that the meeting was just to decide which one of the three proposed structures the medical council should have. Other suggestions would be discussed perhaps in another meeting. They served lunch after the choice was decided upon. The lunch was sponsored by a company making suture materials, which must be a perfectly ethical thing, since it had to do with the medical council. The afternoon session was canceled, as the elite people had to move on. It seems last Sunday they held another meeting, sponsored by a rich company in India. Doctors and students attended and expressed their opinions. I was not elite enough to be invited, thank God! Some opinions expressed in the two meetings were as follows. Those allegedly expressed in the second meeting may be disregarded as hearsay stuff. 'More medical colleges should be started, as more doctors are required.' 'Endoscopic surgery should be routinely taught in all colleges.' 'Medical council should get a set of powerpoint slides made on all topics and distribute them to all medical colleges, so that the same teaching will take place everywhere.' 'Powerpoint slides should be banned during teaching.' 'Research must be made compulsory.' 'Six months must be spent on teaching psychology and communication skills before letting the medical students learn medical subjects.' 'We must not follow western methods. Our doctors are praised quite a lot when they go to US.' The list was endless. I cannot continue because it makes me dizzy and a little nauseated. I had not made any comment during the first meeting because they wanted no more opinions after the initial few. I wasn't present in the next meeting. I hope they read my blog to get my opinions, which are as follows. 1.There must be an organized effort when improvement is planned. The areas to be improved must be classified, and suggestions obtained on each one separately. 2.A team of educationists should be involved prominently. The persons planning the improvement have no training in these areas, and their attempts may turn out to be amateurish. 3.Rather that holding meetings of people by invitation, letters should be sent to all medical colleges, and their staff members should work on the issues concerned, sending the final draft to the medical council through their chief of the institute. Meetings are few, random, and the invitees tend to be those who are not necessarily good educationists.