Dr.Geetha: comments sent to MCI

Sir/Madam ,
 I belong to the Forensic medicine fraternity of Kerala state.

 The changes meant in the vision 2015 document appears to be
great.When such a drastic change ,which decides the future of health
care system in this country, is implemented a minimum degree of
sincere effort is expected .The document contains evidences which
shows the laxity with which it has been prepared.(repetitions,wrong
titles, unclear and ambiguous concepts).Some of the points I would
like to point out are as follows:-

1.It is very clearly stated that Forensic Medicine could be taught in
bits and pieces along with some subjects like Surgery , Obstetrics and
Gynecology etc.    It can be seen that majority of the cases of
negligence suits arise from surgery and OBG due to the inherent risk
associated with their nature of work. In such  a situation ,can we
expect an unbiased approach from their part towards this subject?

 2.It is a well known fact that ,many of the clinicians approach a medicolegal

-colleague (No offence intended) when they have to face  a court
proceeding or when they have to face an investigating officer to give
statement or during medicolegal certifications for expert opinion
.When they themselves are not very sure about the medicolegal matters
,how will they teach the UGs effectively?

 3. In medical colleges Medicolegal autopsies are done by Forensic
medicine experts .But in peripheral hospitals  ,presently  the
autopsies and other ML certifications are done by Basic Doctors .As
per this proposal(perusing the PG curriculum change also) ,the first
batch of students will come out in 2015 throughout India.Then there
will be two kinds of Basic doctors among them -one group with some ML
knowledge sought from OBG , surgery etc and one group with no
Medicolegal sense at all since they had not opted that subject(being
Elective).From that year onwards , all the medicolegal cases for
certifications including wound certificates and medicolegal autopsies
should be referred to a centre where there are experts - ie. to a
Govt.medical College. Is it practically feasible in Indian context?

4.  By reducing the importance of FM will abolish the FM departments
in private sector , which is the hidden agenda behind the move, in
turn will reduce the people opting for MD - Forensic Medicine which in
 turn reduce the number of experts in the field finally leading to
collapse of the system.

 5.  It is stated in PG Curriculum proposal that , the UG changes will
be implemented from 2011 July admission onwards . Can this be
implemented within such a short period without any preparation and
forethought ?

6.Is Medical Education in India such a minor thing that any change can
be made simply by "Copy and Paste" from an entirely different set up ?
             Any curriculum change need a lot of input from all
the speciality experts .Otherwise , a product  which is biased ,
incomplete and ambiguous will be the result.I would request the
authorities to consider  the matter with due importance and take
necessary steps to form expert committees in all specialities at state
and National level .
                                 Dr.Geetha .