To,
Honourable Chairperson,
Board of Governors
Medical Council of India
Pocket - 14, Sector - 8
Dwarka Phase - 1
New Delhi – 110077
Subject: Regarding Teaching & Training in Forensic Medicine & Toxicology at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level.
Reference: Document “Vision 2015” (posted in the MCI website at the following URL:
07.02.2011
Sir,
In connection with the subject and reference mentioned above I, with my very little knowledge want to humbly state that:
1. Members of the Undergraduate working group nominated by BOGs, MCI are from Anatomy, Surgery, OBG, Pediatrics and Radio-diagnosis only. It would have been better to involve at least 4-5 Senior Professors and/or to invite Officials (representatives) of Association of each specialty for preparing curriculum of the subject and form a Committee with group of Seniors/Representatives of the respective Associations and represent their proposal in the presence of BOGs, MCI and other specialty members so that other specialty representatives should have equal opportunity to discuss/debate to arrive on a final conclusion.
2. The services provided by the Forensic Medicine specialists in the medico-legal fields are crucial for maintenance of law and order and also for assisting the Judiciary in administration of justice. Importance of this subject is concerned with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Home Ministry, Law Ministry, Labour Ministry, National Human Rights Commission (as in Human Rights violation/Torture cases), etc. Also increasing the number of medico-legal cases including toxicology in so many ways (living and deceased) in our country with limited number of Forensic Medicine Experts is becoming a challenge for our Country.
3. Teaching staff/Doctors in Surgery, OBG, and Medicine may not be comfortable with the idea to handle the medico-legal cases of injuries, sexual offences and toxicology and attending the Court as their Clinical/teaching work which is primarily aimed to them will suffer.
4. Abolishing Forensic Medicine at UG level certainly will decrease the importance of the subject and discourage the new comers/youngsters in opting the subject with no scope/very limited scope by this new document “Vision-2015”. It is worth mentioning here that a survey done among Forensic Medicine PG degree holders showed that almost >95% opted Forensic Medicine by chance and only <5% opted it by choice. It is reflecting how this important subject has been neglected since long and it is policy makers of our country who have been responsible for today’ bad days of this important subject.
5. My humble suggestion is to include the Subject as Clinical subject and to be taught with clinical subjects. Ethics, Legal procedure, Identity, Mechanical Asphyxial deaths, Injuries, Crime against women, Postmortem changes, Autopsy may be taken in early Semester. Sexual Jurisprudence, Regional injuries, Torture Medicine, Mass Disaster, Forensic Psychiatry and Toxicology may be taken into the final semester. Duration of teaching hours should be minimum 200 hours with two university papers of 100 marks each. Emphasis must also be given to toxicology with minimum of 50 Teaching hours and 50 Marks out of 200 hours/marks as incidence of poisoning cases are increasing due to rapid industrialization and growth in agricultural sector with poor quality of poisoning cases treatment by the doctors due to improper knowledge & training.
6. Majority of Medico-legal works are performed at PHC, CHC and District Hospital level and Autopsy work at District/Medical College/Institute level. For proper training District Hospital must be attached with Medical College for effective medico-legal cases/Autopsy training in collaboration with Forensic Medicine department of the College. Government order regarding attaching District Hospital with Govt./Private Medical College must be issued by Central govt./State Govt. authorizing faculty members for medico-legal work in District Hospital also as an Expert thereby enhancing manpower and quality of work.
7. The MCI has expressed its concern about the burden of diseases in India which is worth appraisal, but at the same time another kind of medical service which is an obligatory duty of a registered medical practitioner towards the state & society i.e. the medico legal service assisting the judiciary in preventing crimes against human beings must also be given weightage. The subject of F.M. &T. should be treated as a core subject and not an elective subject while imparting training to the medical students. As per the prevailing law of the land a passed out MBBS doctor must have reasonable knowledge of Forensic Medicine to render the medico-legal services. This responsibility of a doctor cannot be withdrawn without amending the current Cr.P.C, IPC, & Indian Evidence Act. On the other hand if that subject will be considered as elective (optional) the doctor will have a right to refuse to attend medico-legal cases expressing his/her incompetency pleading lack of training & skill in the subject. Hence Forensic Medicine cannot be an elective subject and it must be added in the core subject group as compulsory subject.
8. Forensic Medicine & Toxicology has not enough PG seats per year and at many Colleges unrecognized PG seats are running for years and even today many seats are vacant. There is, therefore, a need for creating more PG seats, recognizing unrecognized PG courses, creating more attraction towards the subject in the form of incentives- like differential pay scales, special pay or accelerated promotions for teachers in these subjects, proper job opportunity and restoration of the subject’s importance.
9. “Forensic Medicine” subject name should better be replaced by “Forensic Medicine & Toxicology”. Recent time is to strengthen the Forensic Medicine & Toxicology and not to weaken this subject as it will certainly jeopardize the Justice in our Country.
10. It will not be justifiable to separate/make optional the Forensic Medicine & Toxicology teaching and training in Medico-legal work from MBBS course in our country because there is no alternative to this subject as although this part is also concerned with Ministry of Home Affairs and department of Law and Justice even then teaching in Forensic Medicine and Toxicology will be guided and regulated by the Medical Council of India only.
11. With the starting of medical education in the long past there must be some reasons behind the inclusion of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology as a MBBS 2nd prof. subject and now what have forced to our BOG members to delete or make it a elective subject or noncore subject as by the passage of time crime rate has been increased many fold
12. We the teachers from Forensic Medicine serving the society in terms of providing valuable expertise report whether it may be Postmortem examination report or it may injury report, accuse and victim examination, age estimation. In this way we are working as bridge between medicine and justice and fighting against social evil.
These are a few suggestions that if considered, may improve the teaching of forensic medicine and medical toxicology at specially UG level, which will enable even a basic doctor working in a peripheral hospital or managing a nursing home to undertake the clinical and forensic management of assault and poisoning cases with confidence, as well as identify and investigate the medico-legal cases more effectively.
With warm regards,
Yours sincerely
Dated-07.02.2011
S.K Pandey
good job Dr Pandey
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