Continuing Medical Education

It was about ten to fifteen years ago. I was a member of the academic committee. I felt that we failed to get educated about what was happening in other specialties after we specialized in one particular subject. So I suggested to the committee that we should get all departments to hold continuing medical education (CME) programs which all staff members should be able to attend. We could then get the education we needed without having to attend fancy conferences in five star hotels. They misunderstood me, and developed a scheme that included finding sponsors for the CMEs. Finally the scheme died, as all schemes eventually die unless they are a part of the curriculum. Now the Medical Council wants all doctors to get 30 hours’ CME credits every 5 years. The scope is not planned. One can get the credits in a variety of ways, including attending conferences, CME programmes, writing scientific articles in indexed journals, speaking in CMEs, and writing chapters in books published by recognized organizations. That does not mean one ends up getting the required knowledge, but it is better than nothing. It is even compulsory for us teachers, who actually teach undergraduate and postgraduate students. I feel a multispecialty curriculum must be planned for every 5 years and that must be made compulsory for all doctors. I hope someone in the council reads my blog. I would have written to the council, but I am discouraged by my past experience of writing to administration, universities and councils – there is no response.