‘Friendly handshake, less policing': NMC chief's mantra to regulate medical colleges

BN Gangadhar was appointed head of the National Medical Commission (NMC), the apex regulatory body for medical education and profession, last July, after serving as the commission’s officiating chairperson and head of its Medical Assessment and Rating Board. He speaks to Musab Qazi about expanding medical education opportunities, enforcing standards and student well-being, faculty shortage, stipends and more. Edited excerpts:

- Musab Qazi

Q. What have been your priorities for medical education since you took over as NMC chairperson?

A. The most important thing is ensuring quality in medical education. The second priority is quality, and it is also the third priority. At the same time, we need to meet the social demand as more and more people are aspiring to join the medical profession. We have to increase the number of seats and colleges. In order to meet doctors’ aspirations, we must create more opportunities for specialisations — PG seats. This will enhance human resources in the medical profession.

The opportunities to learn clinical skills come only with quality clinical care. Although there are many stakeholders in clinical care, we are doing our part. There are three important ingredients for quality medical education: happy students, committed teachers and satisfied patients - not necessarily in that order.

And of course, there’s another concern in the public mind: we have to be clean in our affairs.

There’s a sizeable clinical population available for students to learn from, but we have not been able to tap even 50% of clinical resources for teaching. The consultants and specialists are supporting clinical work in medical colleges and this will improve healthcare in the hospitals attached to them.

Hence, we are facilitating the transformation of specialist doctors into faculty. With minimal training, specialists and consultants can serve as teachers as we want to increase the quantity.

Q. There's a sense among some that pursuing both quality and quantity is inherently contradictory. How can you strike a balance between the two?

A. It's common sense that simply increasing the quantity won't do. We believe in ensuring adequate quality in training of UG and PG students and, at the same time, providing the best clinical care to patients.