MCI BOG introduces Competency Based MBBS Curriculum

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 5: The Board of Governors (BOG) in supersession of the Medical Council of India (MCI) has finalised the new MBBS syllabus which will be implemented from next year August for 2019-20 academic session. The Graduate Medical Education Regulation 1997 has been amended after 21 years.

The syllabus has been prepared to train medicos to provide health care to the evolving needs of the nation and the world. The revised undergraduate curriculum, termed as Competency-Based Undergraduate Curriculum, focuses on the communication skills of doctors and emerging diseases. The BOG has approved the document finalised by MCI on Friday.

Healthcare: Changing Scenario

The country’s MBBS curriculum will now focus on medical ethics and the doctor-patient relationship. As per BOG, “ relook at all aspects of the various components in the existing regulations and adapt them to the changing demography, socio-economic context, perceptions, values and expectations of stakeholders. Emerging healthcare issues particularly in the context of emerging diseases, the impact of advances in science and technology and shorter distances on diseases and their management also need consideration.”

In the renewed MBBS curriculum, a course termed as Attitude, Ethics and Communication (AETCOM) has been introduced. The objective of the course is to assess students’ communication skills, counselling for organ donations and responsiveness to the needs of patients. Special importance will be given to professionalism, sensitivity to differences in thought, social & economic position, and gender.

In addition, a foundation course will be introduced for the ease of students coming from diverse educational streams and backgrounds . Formative and internal assessments will be held to make the course more effective.

Measures taken by MCI to renew the syllabus

The renewal in MBBS curriculum was long overdue. For this, six training centres and sub-training centres across the country were established. As many as 40,000 teachers of government and private medical colleges and Deemed Universities were trained in these centres. As per MCI, the focus was to provide a transdisciplinary approach so that students can study each subject in relation to the other and not in isolation.