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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Streamlining the medical
education system
Campus
Notes
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Streamlining the medical
education system
THE recent judgment of the Supreme Court regarding the quashing of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), designed as a single-window entrance examination system for getting admission to MBBS and postgraduate courses, does leave some vital questions unanswered. Some of these questions might come back to haunt us in the years to come.
The main aim of the test was to ensure transparency and uniformity in the standards of medical education across the country, both in government as well as private medical colleges. This idea was extensively debated at the national level before it was first conducted as NEET-PG for postgraduate medical courses from November 23 to December 6, 2012, and NEET-UG on May 5, 2013. The major reason for implementing NEET was to streamline the medical education system in the country. In recent years, there has been an unwarranted mushrooming of medical colleges in India, where the infrastructure, both in terms of faculty and materials, and the state-of-the-art healthcare systems are lacking seriously. Some dubious individuals started private medical colleges and hospitals as a money-spinning machine which otherwise had nothing to do with medicine or medical specialty. This ultimately made medical education and its quality vulnerable to all kinds of manipulation and subversion. Thus, admissions to such colleges should be done through a transparent common entrance test. The Indian education system is well known for inducing a high degree of stress among students. Thus, to reduce the stress level among Class X students, the Centre has taken a laudable step in the right direction to do away with the board examinations. However, with the quashing of NEET, the aspiring young medical students may have to go through a vicious cycle of stress induced by series of entrance tests. A common entrance test is a boon for students in terms of saving precious time, energy and resources. This may also save them from becoming an easy prey to certain malpractices like variable capitation fees and selection procedures. However, the quashing of NEET has opened a gateway for rich and undeserving individuals to enter medical profession. Many deserving but poor students may simply fall by the wayside. It is not only contrary to the spirit of ‘equal opportunity’ that has to be provided to all, but also gives a serious setback to an already ailing and debilitated healthcare system in the country. Moreover, a common entrance test would have ensured a basic minimum uniform level of learning and also prevented manipulation of seats by private institutions. Under the present dispensation, transparency in admissions to medical colleges is seriously compromised in terms of seats, mode of selection, fee structure and even standards of medical education. Therefore, no decision with regard to medical education can possibly be taken purely on the grounds of local and regional factors alone. To ensure high-quality medical education and patient care at both the national and international levels, we require an unbiased selection procedure. At the international level, medical students face very stiff competition and represent the level of education acquired by them. Thus, it is important to maintain equitable international standards in the basic medical education so that whenever our young doctors go abroad, we don’t have to bow our heads in shame. The Supreme Court has held that the Medical Council of India (MCI) is not empowered to conduct an all-India single entrance test as it is essentially a supervisory body, which is ultra vires, as one of its basic functions is to protect the standards of medical education in the country. The court has also held that the MCI notification of NEET is violative of Fundamental Rights of the Constitution under Articles 19, 25, 26, 29 and 30. While NEET has been perceived as violation of Fundamental Rights of the state and private institutions, the judgment is silent on the Fundamental Rights of the aspiring doctors and other citizens. Unfortunately, the national regulatory body overseeing medical education in the country has not been allowed to enforce NEET. The quashing orders are against the Fundamental Rights to receive equitable and corruption-free education for all, guaranteed under the Article 21 of the Constitution. This is also against Article 14 which provides free and fair education to all Indian citizens and treats all ‘equal before law’. If disparity in educational standards is the logic, then the common entrance test conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, IITs and IIMs should be abolished. No doubt, reforms are needed at all stages but before we go in for radical reforms, the opinion of the medical faculty must be considered. Instead of quashing NEET, the Supreme Court should have rather directed MCI to streamline the examination further, with a view to strengthen their hold over the medical education system. MCI is a statutory body of experts, aspiring to realise the vision 2015 by standardising the eligibility criteria of admissions and bringing uniformity in the institutions across the country. On the other hand, the judgment of the Supreme Court has dealt a big blow to these aspirations. Therefore, a review petition must be filed either by the government or MCI. Otherwise, it may be difficult for us to separate the wheat from the chaff in the matters of medical education and training. Moreover, getting the proper medical treatment is a fundamental right of every patient. Right diagnosis, right treatment, right dose of medicine, etc., are interlinked to knowledge, proper education, training and skill development of our young doctors. Therefore, NEET must be restored to save medical education in our country. The writers are senior doctors at Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh |
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Campus
Notes
PUNJAB Agricultural University has taken a lead in the country by bagging maximum number of research projects sanctioned by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Among the farm universities of the country and other universities of the region, having research and technology generation agenda, the university has bagged 28 research projects at the national level. Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor of PAU, congratulated the university scientists for this remarkable achievement and exhorted them to continue with their vigorous efforts in taking PAU to greater heights in future as well. The university undertakes research in need-based problem solving areas identified as per its vision document for futuristic research, he added. Dr S.S. Gosal, Director of Research, said the university is contributing immensely to agri-research and is an active player in the national agricultural research system.
V-C gets Bose fellowship
The Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, has bestowed the prestigious J.C. Bose National Fellowship on the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, in recognition of his outstanding performance and contributions to scientific research. The J.C. Bose fellowship is a scientist-specific award, which is meant to recognise active and performing scientists and engineers in the country. Under this award, a sum of Rs 29,46,667 has been sanctioned for the duration of two years. Out of the sanctioned amount, a total of Rs 6,50,000 has been provided to Dr Dhillon as a fellowship, which he has decided to donate to the PAU Endowment Fund. Dr Dhillon is a well-known expert of plant breeding and genetics.
PAU centres adjudged best
The all-India coordinated research project centres on wheat, rice, vegetables and rapeseed mustard at the university have been adjudged the best centres at the national level. The Vice Chancellor congratulated the university scientists and exhorted them to continue with their sustained efforts. Giving details, Dr S.S. Gosal, Director of Research, said the PAU centre on rice was conferred with the Best AICRIP Centre (Team) Award 2011-12 and a certificate of excellence for excellent research on rice. The centre was adjudged the best from among 47 centres of farm universities and ICAR institutes. The wheat centre of AICRP got the Best AICW&BIP Centre (ICAR Chaudhary Devi Lal Outstanding AICRP Award 2011) on account of its contributions, while the vegetable centre got the Lt Amit Singh Memorial Award for Best AICRP
Centre.
Wheat disease management
A brainstorming session on “Strategic Management of Yellow Rust and Karnal Bunt of Wheat in North-Western Plains and Hill Zone of India” was organised on the university campus recently. Wheat scientists from the state agricultural universities of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and Uttarakhand attended the session. In his inaugural remarks, the chief guest, Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, expressed concern over wheat diseases, including yellow rust and Karnal bunt. Dr J.S. Sandhu, Agriculture Commissioner, Government of India, and PAU alumnus, divulged that India produced a record of 259.32 million tonnes of food grains during 2011-12. However, the food grain production during 2012-13 touched nearly 255 million tonnes, he added. “Under the 12th Five-Year Plan, we have proposed a target of additional 25 million tonnes of food grain production,” he said.
Guru Angad Dev Veterinary
ICAR accreditation
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has granted accreditation to Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) and its College of Veterinary Science for a period of five years. Efforts are also being made to get accreditation from the ICAR for the College of Fisheries and College of Dairy Science and Technology. These colleges have excelled in the area of education and research in dairy and fishery sectors in Punjab and the country as well. Meanwhile, the Agriculture Minister and President of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Society has nominated Dr V. K. Taneja, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU, as member on the general body of the ICAR Society for a period of three years. This nomination is recognition of contributions made by Dr Taneja in the fields of animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.
INSPIRE fellowship
Eight doctorate students of GADVASU have been awarded with the national fellowship Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Each awardees will get fellowship amounting to Rs 18,000 per month along with a contingency grant of Rs 20,000 each year for a period of five years. The fields selected for doing research are the real problems of the livestock sector. The research findings and outcome will provide directions to solve these issues for the benefit of both livestock as well as society.
Student gets selected
in US varsity
Deepjot Singh, a student of the first batch of the Bachelor of Fisheries Science (BFSc) degree programme from the College of Fisheries, GADVASU, has got admission in Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (USA) for pursuing MS in the fisheries and mariculture programme. He has been appointed as a teaching assistant with a package of $15000 per annum along with an out-of-state tuition fee waiver. Deepjot is the first student from the College of Fisheries to get this kind of opportunity. He will be joining the degree programme in the first week of September, 2013.
— Contributed by Charanjit Singh Teja
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C. S. Gautam and Ram Singh
