Need Independent body for Medical Education Accreditation: Parliamentary Panel

Talking about achieving the various milestones in field of Medical Education in the country, Parliamentary panel has emphasised on the need for having an independent system of Medical Education accreditation. The panel further slammed MCI over the suggestion that MCI itself should have the authority of accreditation apart from having the responsibility of approval of the said Medical Colleges.

NEED FOR ACCREDITAION

On the issue of having an accreditation system, the committee brought forward MCI's point that currently there is no system of accreditation in place for medical colleges in the country. Moreover, the committee further substantiated the reasoning ,based on expert comments that the merit of the entire college or hospital cannot be decided with just a single inspection but if there is an accrediting body which subsequently inspects, this deficiency can be corrected. The committee has therefore suggested that there was a need for an accreditation body for the purposes of accreditation of medical colleges.

IS MCI the Right Candidate for Accreditation?

While the medical council, through its general body meeting of the council in 2015 inserted a clause to bring Accreditation by MCI under the Mandate of the IMC Act, this decision has not been held in good regard by the parliamentary panel. The committee re-iterated the report of the group of experts constituted by the ministry:-

“The concentration of power in a single agency, which lays down the educational standards, approves the creation of institutions for UG and PG education and also oversees professional conduct of practicing physicians, has not served its purpose. The structure of the present Council is such that its actions are uni-directional, leaving no room for dialogue. Its structure violates the general principle in education, which is that laying down the educational standards and accrediting organizations based on their capability in achieving these standards need to be done by different agencies”.

Keeping these points in mind the committee has made the following recommendations

The Committee observes that robust accreditation processes are the foundation of quality management in most educational systems and therefore there is an imperative need for having an accreditation body for medical colleges. However, the Committee is not amenable to the suggestion that the MCI should be empowered to do the task of accreditation through an amendment to the IMC Act. The Committee observes that the same body giving permission and approvals for medical colleges and also ascertaining quality leads to conflict of interest. The Committee, therefore, recommends that a robust independent accreditation body be established and entrusted with the task of ensuring quality of medical education. The Accreditation Body so created should be oriented towards seeing whether the type of medical education given is appropriate for the country; whether the product that comes out of medical colleges is a product that is needed; whether the teaching methods are upto the mark and latest. The Committee also recommends that such an organization should be autonomous.