The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University is launching several programmes aimed at mid-level doctors and those who work in rural areas and in the private sector.
The courses will not only help upgrade their skills and enable them to earn a degree while in practice but also provide the respect that they feel is denied as they are not specialists.
The University has proposed to start a diploma course in family medicine which will be offered through distance mode. The curriculum is being framed to enable the candidates to add to their knowledge even when they are expected to be in their hospitals or attend to patients in their private practice.
“The course will benefit doctors who have long regretted not having any extra qualification and feel that despite their experience they are not on a par with specialists,” Vice-Chancellor of the University Mayil Vahanan Natarajan told TheHindu recently.
The University recently received approval from the Medical Council of India for its three year MD course in Family Medicine. Teaching medical colleges would be expected to form a team to identify the best way to conduct the course. The college authorities have to pool experts from various disciplines and find a person to head the department of Family Medicine. “It is now up to the medical colleges to apply to the University to start the course. But, the university will conduct the examinations,” he said.
In mid-May around 30 candidates, all mid-career doctors who hold a diploma in rehabilitation medicine will undergo an exam to qualify for an MD degree in the subject. Some of the candidates had taken the diploma course almost 25 years ago.
