Medical Education in India and Haryana state.
Today, in our country, the doctor who becomes a doctor after receiving medical education, does not suit the needs of the country anywhere. All the three aspects of the medical education system – content, method, and language – are to be blamed for this.
But this fault goes beyond the medical system to the general education system and beyond that to our social system. In fact, both our medical education and general education flourish under our today's market society system.
Current education is not just a process of imparting training to take up a particular job, but also a process of preventing a person from performing a particular expected role.
Today there are about 590 medical education institutes in our country. Despite all this spread, the truth is that more or less all the doctors are urban based and the proportion of their number is also different in different states. It can also be said that some colleges have mastered the art of providing good medicine and treatment, but at what cost?
Both medicine and health infrastructure are going in different directions. Today there is very little coordination between the role of a physician and the needs of the society. Also there has been no coordination between medical education and health care structure.
Even today, medicine in our country is seen only in the realm of science and technology and it is understood to be free from the needs of the society and disconnected from historical contexts. According to the report of the Medical Education Committee constituted by the Government of India at one time, this criticism is absolutely correct that 'the present medical education has not really affected the vast majority of people of this country.
Medical education has been given such a direction that it can hide the current socio-cultural and economic condition of our society, which has been created for the interests of certain sections by the ruling class of today. This socioeconomic structure is the root of many ills. There are many diseases which are due to:
- poor diet,
-poor clothing,
-lack of availability of clean water, -lack of proper housing,
-lack of proper excreta,
-lack of clean and tidy environment, -as well as poor health care facilities, thrive because of all these factors.
The second group is of such diseases which are the gift of living in the society of market system. For example:
- mental stress,
-psychosomatic disorder, -intoxication,
-violence and accidents.
The third group is those who are the result of the circumstances of earning maximum profits. Maximum profit with minimum cost.
As a result, diseases also occur due to
- poor working conditions,
-pollution of the environment causes many diseases,
-adulteration causes many fatal diseases.
The fourth group is those diseases which are created by the ruling classes and their governments during the maintenance of their dominance over crores of people for their vested interests, for example, as a result of experiments done for war and chemical, biological or chemical weapons in actual wars. Many diseases have emerged as a result of the use of nuclear weapons.
The situation has reached to such an extent that no human being will be spared from its attack. But in the current medical education system and in the medical system, there is a lot of noise trying to hide these truths and attribute the root cause of these diseases to other or third causes.
The current medical education tries to inculcate such sentiments in the students which will maintain the exploitative nature of this market social system. For example, after receiving this medical education, the person or the doctor is unable to see and understand that what is the real nature of the health services provided by the Clubs like Rotary Club or Lions Club?
The leaders of these clubs and organizations are the same people who are responsible for all the evils of the society, including diseases, but these are the people who cleverly successfully pretend themselves to be real servants and saviors of the people through this health service.
Huh. Even completely anti-people governments are successful in proving themselves public-friendly through these health services. And in this context, it would be more correct to look at the expansion of health infrastructure in our country from time to time.
The current medical education tries its best to make the doctor a salesman of the equipment and drug industries, for this, doctors are involved by sponsoring various programs. Such policies are made where Apollo and Fortis for the rich and government employees and Delivery Huts and Asha workers for the rest.
In a backward industrial country like ours where labor is very cheap, unemployment is rampant, the labor force is unorganized, there is no job security and illiteracy is such that the need for adequate and quick health care during illness is not understood. In our society, access to medical facilities depends on one's spending power, how close one is to the ruling class, and one's level of consciousness.
As such In developed countries where freedom of capital plays an important role, the objectives of medical education and health services are similar. The level and quality of care for sick people is very high and there is a lot of government expenditure on health, as a result labor is very expensive and when labor is sick its substitute is not readily available and most importantly that the labor force is organized. The labor force there cannot be thrown out of the job quickly and easily. There the literacy rate is very high.
In a way, it is not entirely correct to say in India that the current medical education structure of our country is going in the wrong direction. It is really going in the direction our policy makers are taking it and that direction is based on the concept that health is a commodity that anyone with money can buy.
If the person with money has the power to buy, then the direction of keeping his health right has also been made. The contradiction here is that due to this direction, how will he treat the poor? Perhaps it can only be pretended. It is also necessary to say here that if students, teachers or syllabus are to be blamed for all this, then it would be an excess because all these cannot be seen separately from the balance of today's class powers!
And therefore, the basic efforts for changes in the medical education system cannot be taken forward in isolation, it should also be part of the wider process of creating a new society in conjunction with the transformational struggles and social reform movements in other parts of the society must be seen in.
But there is no doubt that this is a very difficult task because it requires a lot of ideological discussion, which has been very little so far. It is not enough that you have acquired the knowledge and skills to treat the patient and cure the disease. Along with this, the 'value system' and ethics of conduct that are being instilled in the future doctor also play a big role in shaping his world outlook.
The current value system of medical education is taking the student more and more away from the people and this attitude -attitude - is not limited to medical education but it starts from school itself and results in becoming a doctor. Money, practice, easy career etc. become the 'motive force' behind them and the world view also becomes fragmented.
While discussing any research, scholars say that our job is to do research, it is not our job to think about its social side. Many of these doctors may not be sincerely inclined to take sides with any class. And be in favor of remaining 'class neutral'. But even while doing so, that is, while remaining neutral, they are actually helping the viewpoint or side of the ruling classes . There is no such thing as 'class neutrality' in a class divided society.
When we say that medical education is not need oriented, it is also a half truth. When a policy is made, it is said to be made keeping in mind the interests of the majority of the people. While the whole truth is that this education is put into practice according to the interests of the minority ruling class.
The content and method of medical education is planned in such a way that one becomes a doctor who runs the entire and high archic health infrastructure. In this framework, decisions have been taken by the central government and state goverment in a very focused manner under the pressure of the World Bank.
Presently in Haryana, through the bond system, the burden of more than 36 lakhs is being put on the student and his family, it is being done under this thinking. It is obvious that becoming a doctor will be like a dream for the children of the common man and it will also affect the health of the common man and the out-of-pocket expenditure of a person will increase more than before.The budget in the health sector is also being reduced and PPP mode and self-financing methods are being promoted in this sector.
Students of Government Medical Colleges across Haryana are on strike for 34 days today, but even a louse is not crawling on the ears of the Chief Minister. The citizens of the society have also come forward to support the struggle of the students. It should be expected that the struggling students have very legitimate demands and their struggle will force the government to accept them.
Ranbir Singh Dahiya
Haryana Gyan Vigyan Samiti
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