IMA strongly opposes the implementation of BRMS short term medical course-Punjab News line-Wednesday, 10 February 2010

SANGRUR: The scheme of starting Bachelor in Rural medicine and Surgery(BRMS) course is totally ill-conceived, impractical, discriminating step. Being started in the name of rural masses, it will produce substandard doctors who will provide only compromised care to the rural masses.

Dr. Amandeep Aggarwal,State Organizing Secretary, Indian Medical association, Punjab said, "How can there be two different standard for health care, one ‘State of Art’ (comparable to best in western countries) for urban population and second a substandard care for rural masses, jeopardizing the latter’s health & life? This is highly discriminating and against the fundament right of health of every citizens of the country".

Dr. Amandeep Aggarwal said, "we appreciate GOI concern for ‘Rural Masses’ and agree that there is shortage/ mal-distribution of medical & paramedical manpower in rural and remote areas and doctors are reluctant to go and serve in these area, it is pointed out that just providing the requisite numbers of doctors is not enough and this alone can’t work as shortcut solution to the real problem".

At CHC level short fall of specialist manpower, facilities and infrastructure is glaring. Obstetrician 56%, Surgeon 56%, Physicians 59% Pediatricians 67% with no provision for anesthetists. How will present scheme of things help in meeting this specialist services, over & above the shortage of para medical health workers, facilities as well as infrastructure.

According to Population Characteristics (2001 Census), Punjab had a population of 2.43 crores in 2001 and percentage of male and female is 53.3 % and 46.7 % respectively.Out of total 66.1 percent was rural population and 33.9 percent urban

Three tier rural health system is as: Against the population of 5000 there is one sub-centre, against 30000 there is one primary health centre, against 130000 there is one community health centre. Even as per government data, the shortage of para-medical staff is much more acute than that of doctors.

Currently there are 171,687 health centres in India and the number of dispensaries and hospitals is 33,855. There is a shortage of 20,855 sub centres, 4,833 primary health centres (PHCs), 2,525 community health centres (CHCs) as per the 2001 population norms.

Of the 22,370 PHCs in the country, only 1,263 of them were working 24x7 on March 31, 2005 (before the NRHM). The number of 24x7 PHCs today, as reported by the states, is 7,212.

BRMS course (3 ½ yrs)is going to produce half baked inferior quality doctors who will lack confidence & credibility to lead the team of other health worker like Nurses having diploma (3½ yrs.) / Bsc Nursing (4+1yrs.) or Pharmacist (4yrs. course).

This BRMS course is nothing except providing back door entry of substandard doctors to practice of medicine, said Dr. Amandeep Aggarwal.

Centre receives flak for short rural medical course - Indian Express 08.02.2010

Central government’s decision to introduce a shortened medical course at the graduate level for serving rural areas only has not gone down well with the Indian Medical Association (IMA). IMA’s central council passed a resolution against this programme in its meet in Hyderabad in December. “We are averse to the idea of creating a shortcut to medicine,” said Dr Dharam Prakash secretary general, Indian Medical Association, New Delhi. “They will be like half-baked doctors,” he added.

Ministry of Health and Family welfare recently approved Medical Council of India’s (MCI) proposal for four year Bachelor in Rural Healthcare course. This course was aimed at meeting the public health challenges in rural areas. The condensed course aims to produce 1.45 lakh rural doctors.

“Even though the idea is very noble as something is better than nothing, but this will be discriminatory for rural population as urban areas will have fully qualified MBBS doctors whereas rural areas will have half-trained doctors. Also how can one restrict doctors to rural areas?” said Dr Hozie Kapadia secretary of IMA.

Dr Mrudula Phadke, former Vice-Chancellor of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, has also expressed reservations about the course earlier this week.

MCI proposed setting up of 300 medical colleges to provide education to rural students and deploy them to provide basic healthcare facilities to villagers. These medical colleges will provide a course in Bachelors in Rural Healthcare. After being trained, the graduate doctors will be posted in notified rural areas. “Instead of building new medical colleges, upgrade the existing infrastructure. Also increase the salary of freshers willing to go to rural areas to attract and sustain them for rural stint,” said Dr Kapadia. “This is a knee jerk reaction. Twenty years back also the government had proposed a three-year course to have ‘barefoot doctors’ for villages but it did not take off,” said surgeon Dr Shivkumar Utture.

WAKE UP DEAR DOCTORS......

MCI workshop recommends
1. One and a half year condensed course after BRMS to award MBBS.
2. Eligibility for post graduation
3. One and a half year course as lateral entry to Ayurvedics and Homeopaths.



Courtesy Dr. R.V. Ashokan

DELHI CHALO... STOP BRMS...

DELHI CHALO call by Joint Action Council succeeds in challenging BRMS.150 doctors and 150 medical students demonstrate silently in dignity before INDIA HABITAT CENTER ,DELHI. All deans and principals,all Vice Chancellors all health secretaries and all MCI members have been shown our concern and protest.Joint Action Council meeting held in TB association hall near India Habitat Center.Medical students of India form all India medicos Association.National convention of AIMA in march.Mr.Sreejith of Thrissur elected as chairman and Dr Anirudh of UCMS elected as Secretary General.Over to medical students of India.


Courtesy - Dr. R.V. Ashokan

DELHI CHALO.......

"DELHI CHALO" all arrangements in place.Doctors of modern medicine along with medical students will stand in protest before INDIA HABITAT CENTER ,DELHI where 300 deans, principals,vice chancellors.MCI members and health secretaries are confabulating on the curriculum and syllabus of BRMS. Against all odds the profession will rise the struggle will not end until we stop BRMS.

Joint Action Council (JAC) Against BRMS

Dear Friend
We are happy to inform you that a Joint Action Council of concerned doctors of modern medicine has been formed to fight BRMS. BRMS is a threat to the health of the nation and amounts to legalizing quackery. IMA central council has resolved unanimously to stop BRMS in its tracks. The aim of this Joint Action Council is to coordinate the opposition to BRMS at national level.
Soliciting your blessings and support


Chairman
Dr. V. C. Velayudhan Pillai

Co Chairmen
Dr. S. Arul Rhaj Dr. P.V. George Dr. Ashok Adhao
Dr. Mohammad Abbas

Vice Chairmen

Dr. Bhim S Pandhi Dr. A. Marthanda pillai Dr. Satyanand
Dr. T. N. Babu Ravindran Dr. V. U. Seethi Dr. K. Jayaram
Dr. M. Bhaskaran
Convenor
Dr. K. E. Paulose

Spokes Person at Delhi
Dr Naresh Chawla
Dr V N Sharma

The HINDU - Edtiorial 03.02.2010

Doctors for the villages

While a country like China devised practical ways to deliver healthcare to rural populations by deploying its band of ‘barefoot doctors’ from the 1960s in a transitional phase, and then went on to expand full-fledged medical education facilities that enabled national coverage to a great degree, chronic shortages of doctors in rural India six decades after Independence remain a worry. The allopathic doctor-patient ratio is a dismal 1:1,722. Nevertheless, the Med ical Council of India’s proposal for a three-and-a-half-year course leading to a diploma in Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS) to produce a class of allopathic practitioners who hail from rural areas and will serve in notified rural areas may turn out to be a cure worse than the disease. Chhattisgarh’s experiment with a controversial three-year medical course (introduced in 2000 and scrapped in 2004) should provide a cautionary tale. The key question is: should rural folk be short-changed when it comes to the education, training, and calibre of medical practitioners?

The Bhore Committee Report of 1946 provided a highly commended blueprint for a modern public health delivery system and the training of personnel. It envisaged the concept of a ‘basic’ doctor who would be central to the delivery of primary healthcare; he or she would be put through five-and-a-half years of sound medical education. An alternative cadre of Licentiates (LMPs) who underwent a three-to-four-year course in medical schools was abolished after deliberation. But the Committee recommended the setting up of more medical colleges, with all available resources directed at the production of one type of doctor with the optimal level of training over five-and-a-half-years. The expectation was that medical education would match population growth and expanding healthcare needs. The number of MBBS seats in India is less than 31,000 today which is far from adequate. There were 17,654 medical degree-holders available at the time of the Bhore Committee survey to serve a population that was less than a third of what it is today and they were less spread out. The challenge before the government is straightforward: it is to increase the MBBS-level intake manifold, rationalising the process of setting up medical colleges — and cleansing the clearance system of multi-point transactional corruption. A package of well-considered and sustainable measures, including attractive incentives, to ensure that a significantly greater number of doctors work in the countryside, must be put in place. Narrow-minded resistance from within the medical fraternity should not be allowed to stand in the way.

More photos of Raj Bhavan March and Dharna held on 27.01.2010 TVPM