The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) has begun the fifth Medical Council of India (MCI) basic course aimed at faculty development in medical colleges.
Inaugurating the four-day workshop, JIPMER Director S.C. Parija underscored the need for reforms in medical education to overcome the current challenges in medical education.
Calling for urgent reforms in the MBBS curriculum, he said it had been static for three decades in India.
“The increasing knowledge base in science, particularly clinical and laboratory medicine, has created a felt need among all stakeholders for bringing in changes in the MBBS curriculum,” he said.
Envisioning a greater role for medical teachers in reshaping the curriculum with appropriate teaching-learning and assessment methods, Dr. Parija said the newer curriculum should be student-centred and focussed on development of knowledge, attitude and skills in a balanced manner.
It was after taking into account all these imperatives that JIPMER had evolved steps to redesign the medical education curriculum both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels that aimed at grooming doctors who could provide quality healthcare at all levels and also assume leadership roles, Dr. Parija said. He added that the revised curriculum would have a foundation course and be updated with new technologies, including IT and e-learning, to enhance students’ capabilities to meet curricular objectives.
The Department of Medical Education at JIPMER has been conducting faculty development programmes since 1976 and has trained more than 1,800 medical educators. Earlier this month, it opened the MCI regional centre for faculty development programmes.
Faculty of medical colleges in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu are participating.
