Caution-UG Curriculum Meet-MCI

Dear friends, colleagues and students,

 

This message is being sent out in response to the numerous messages and calls I have been receiving on my cell phone and email accounts pertaining to the meeting that was held at the MCI office in Delhi on 18 & 19 Feb. To obviate the situation where-in rumours are generated, which unfortunately tend to spread like wild fire, consuming everybody in its path, I am compelled to send out this cautionary statement.

First of all, it is true that there was a meeting called by the MCI on the dates mentioned (though there was some confusion initially about the exact dates leading to cancellation and rebooking of flights), which was communicated to me by Prof Shailesh Mohite of TNMC Mumbai and Prof PK Devadass of BMCRI, Bengaluru. I was at Kolkata on 16 & 17 Feb to help a super speciality hospital there to start a Poison Control Centre when the new dates were suddenly conveyed to me. By the way, isnt it ironical that a corporate hospital is more interested in toxicology than an average forensic medicine dept in India?!

Anyway, after making changes in my travel plans, I proceeded from Kolkata to Delhi for the MCI meeting. At this point I must mention that my original invitation had actually been sent to the wrong email ID, and it is only because of Prof Mohite that I got to know of this meeting in the first place! These gaffes only marked the beginning of a series of other errors which we of the UG Committee on FMT (comprising Profs PK Devadass, Shailesh Mohite, BD Gupta & myself) noticed during the course of the two-day meeting. But it is only fair to emphasise that these appeared to be inadvertent errors arising from a lack of coordination, rather than negligence or deliberate intent.

This particular message is being sent out only to caution everyone in the forensic medicine community NOT to celebrate prematurely, because even though some very positive developments took place in the meeting, we must wait for official notification from the MCI.

All members of the core committee (named above, besides Prof PC Dikshit who was also there for part of the first day) who attended the meeting insisted that the following recommendations be accepted before proceeding with issues pertaining to integration with other specialities:

1. The dept of forensic medicine (comprising clinical forensic medicine, medical ethics, toxicology and forensic pathology) be retained as a Core subject, and not as an Elective.

2. The subject of forensic medicine must always be referred to explicitly as forensic medicine and toxicology (here-in after referred to as FMT) in all future communications.

3. The subject of FMT must be taught over a period of 4 semesters beginning from 3rd semester, and a full-fledged examination with 2 separate papers, practicals and viva voce for a total of 300 marks must be conducted by the faculty of FMT at the end of the 6th semester, along with ENT, Ophthal, and Community Med. (The MCI is proposing to retain preclinicals for 2 semesters, and shortening the paraclinical phase also to 2 semesters). The total teaching period must comprise at least 150 hours, instead of 100 hours.

4. The entire FMT curriculum must be revamped, and a new updated one with deletion of obsolete information must be uniformly followed all over the country. The Venkatachalaiah report that was initiated by Prof Devadass, to which many of us provided input, and that was submitted sometime ago to the MCI after ratification by many of the stalwarts of FMT, must form the backbone of the new curriculum.

5. The minutes of the meeting must clearly mention that the original faculty strength must be restored in FMT.

The head of the MCI UG curriculum committee (Prof George Mathew) was most gracious, unlike the widely held misconception that most of us had about him. He went out of the way, along with some other committee members who were present (Prof Nilima Kshirsagar & Prof Kaul) to assure us that there was no intention on the part of the MCI to do away with FMT at the UG or PG levels. In fact they were in full agreement that the speciality must be strengthened and be made a part of the clinical phase rather than the paraclinical phase. They repeatedly told us that the Vision 2015 document was being misinterpreted, and complete clarity about the status of FMT will be ensured before implementing it.

More details about the meeting will be made available collectively by all 4 core members of the FMT UG committee as and when they are finalised. No further details can be divulged by me without concurrence of the other members. In the meanwhile, do understand that the matter is still pending confirmation by the MCI, and we must be patient before celebrating these tentative positive developments.

It is also important that we do not continue bombarding the MCI BOG with any more mails for the time being. Let the UG committee of the MCI come up with their final recommendations, which can be scrutinized by all of us, and then we can contemplate further action as required. It is important to note that the recommendations must be acceptable to the MCI BOG, which is the final authority. So there is some uncertainty still hanging in the air.

Anyway, we seem to be at least making some headway.

Before signing off, let me make it very clear that credit for these positive developments must go to all of those who raised their voice against Vision 2015, and played an active role in staging public protests, and highlighting the disturbing effects of Vision 2015 in the media. If and when we succeed in our battle (which is still on-going), every organization, institute, department, email group, faculty member and student who participated in these active efforts must be congratulated. We of the FMT UG curriculum core committee only contributed our mite in bringing the issue to the direct notice of the MCI, but the major credit must go to the entire forensic fraternity who unitedly raised their voice.

Three cheers to that!

Regards,

V.V.Pillay MD, DCLChief, Poison Control Centre
Head, Dept of Analytical Toxicology & Forensic Biotechnology
Professor, Forensic Medicine & Medical Toxicology
Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research
Cochin, Kerala  682041
India
Phones:+91-484-4008056 (Personal: direct line)

            EPABX: +91-484-4001234,

            Ext: 8056 (Forensic Medicine, Medical Toxicology), 6034 (Poison Control Centre)

            8096 (Analytical Toxicology), 8190 (Forensic Biotechnology)