A Presentation By Dr Azmat Karim MD PFU

A Presentation By Dr. Azmat Karim MD (PFU), FCCS (USA), PGDHHM (Pune) Consultant Physician & Cardiologist Metro Hospital & Heart Institute Delhi (India)

Preparation of Doctors for India in foreign countries and problems of the recognition of Russian Diplomas of Medical Education of various levels

India : An overview with respect to Healthcare Ø Demographic status : India accounts for a meagre 2. 4 % of the world’s surface area yet, it supports and sustains a whooping 16. 7 % of the world population (1139. 96 million as per latest estimate) Ø Number of Doctors available in India : The availability of physicians in India is 6 per 10, 000 population which is not sufficient to ensure better health (117 th position in terms of density of doctors out of 192 countries). Ø There is a considerable gap in the actual number of Physicians in India and the no. which is desired as per the WHO norms

Possible ways to bridge the gap / shortfall in the desired number of Doctors in India v. Increase the no. of medical colleges v. Increase the seats in the existing medical colleges v Making use of Foreign Medical Colleges by encouraging Indian students to take admissions in those colleges.

Historical Background of Medical Education for Indians at Russia/PFU v. Pre 1990 era : Admissions were based on merits with full scholarship under Indo-Russian exchange program through Indian Government. v. During 1991 -99 : It was a mix of Indo-Russian exchange programme and open admission without any merit criteria through private agents v. Post 2000 era : The Indo-Russian exchange program was scrapped and admissions were opened for those who were able to pay the fees.

Problems in India in respect of recognition of Russian Medical Degree at various level v. It is a myth that the Russian degrees per se, ever had any exclusive problem of recognition in India IN Pre 1990 era v. In fact the process adopted by the Indian government to standardize the level of medical professionals have culminated in various challenges foreign medical graduates irrespective of the country.

Factors which distinguish PFU from its peer colleges in Russia but could not come to its rescue v The academic standard of PFU used to be exceeding well, enabling all the graduates from this university to show excellent performance in India and abroad. v Graduates from PFU have also faired well in the exams like FMGE/PLAB/USMLE v Students from PFU who could not qualify FMGE were by and large those one who were transferred from different unrecognized colleges in Russia in their mid academic session which was not in tune with MCI guidelines.

Contributory factors leading to drastic reduction in the no. of admissions at Russian Colleges v Softening of admission criteria/Inter-university migrations in Russian Medical Schools v Introduction of FMGE (Foreign Medical Graduate Examination) to standardize the level of Medical Professionals in India before granting license to practice. v Negative publicity with regard to the academic standard and security problem during 1993 -99 at Russia v Higher failure rate of Russian Medical graduates in FMGE v Emergence of new avenues for education at different countries such as Nepal, China, Australia etc

How to revive the reputation of Russian Colleges and increase the student intake in PFU v Enhancing the brand image of PFU v Conducting seminars / CME in coordination with reputed Hospitals and Medical colleges in India (Alumni of PFU in India may play a vital role for this cause) v Rationalization of admission criteria

How to revive the reputation of Russian Colleges and increase the student intake in PFU v Offering full scholarship for meritorious students based on some competitive test preferably under the aegis of MCI /FMGE/DNBE v Exploring long term collaboration/tie ups with Indian universities in consonance with the guidelines of MCI. v Creating a visibility for PFU in different media and medical journals being published in India.

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