The ministry will soon bring new legislation to seeking to improve the quality of manpower in the healthcare sector.
“After extensive consultations, the health ministry has prepared a draft bill for setting up a National Council for Human Resources in Health that will be introduced soon in Parliament,” Singh said at the convocation ceremony of the All India Institute of Medical Education here. The bill would seek to create an enabling environment to address issues of quality, quantity and equitable distribution of medical education resources, he said.
The Prime Minister’s support virtually ends the row between two sparring ministries on the control of cash-rich medical education sector. While health ministry proposed NCHRH, the human resource development ministry under Kapil Sibal proposed a National Commission on Higher Education and Research bill for regulating the entire spectrum of higher education including medical education.
Azad said the government planned for a rapid expansion of medical education in the country because with the launch of national rural health mission, demand for human resources went up manifold. Also distribution of health professionals is skewed.
Singh said medical education needed a revamp to adapt it to contemporary needs and realities. “In the future, it is not biology alone that will drive medical care. Epidemiology, economics, social and behavioural sciences, ethics and human rights will influence the manner in which health will be promoted and healthcare provided to our nation,” he added.
According to a draft version of the NCHRH bill, available with Deccan Herald, among other things, the council will conduct a national level exit examination for broad and super-speciality postgraduates. Conceived in the line of a similar system in the UK, the exit exam is expected to benchmark the budding doctors before they are allowed to practice.
The council will not merely replace the Medical Council of India but revamp the system of doctors’ registration and accreditation of medical institutions.
Highlighting what could be the need of the hour in medical education, Singh said that the new cadre of professionals should address health not only from the perspective of an individual patient but as part of a team integrated into the larger health system.