ISLAMABAD: For years, private medical colleges have been trying to introduce an integrated/modular system of education, claiming that otherwise as per directions of the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) Pakistani doctors would become obsolete after 2023.

On the other hand, a number of faculty members believed that private medical colleges wanted to introduce the new system just because it needed less faculty members and would reduce expenditures.

Adviser to WFME Prof Dr Janet Grant, who visited Pakistan during the current week, rejected such assumptions and said the country should have a medical education system as per its own requirements and there was no condition from the federation regarding any specific education system.

Adviser to World Federation of Medical Education says country should have a system as per its own requirements

In Pakistan, subjects such as surgery, biochemistry, nature of diseases etc., are taught in medical colleges in different years. However, in the integrated system the students will have to study all subjects simultaneously.

For example, if a student has to study a disease, under the integrated system they have to study all the subjects such as the nature of a disease, surgery, biochemistry and the disease process at the same time. In the subject-based system/horizontal system, these subjects are studied in different years.

Over the years, it has been claimed that according to the WFME’s announcements students who would complete their graduation after 2023 would have to study through modern teaching system.

Moreover, a fear was created that in case of failure to implement the instructions it would not be possible for Pakistan to send doctors aboard after 2023. Because of the debate, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), which is a member of the WFME, announced its decision in 2015 to introduce the integrated/modular system.

Not only the council held a number of seminars but also announced that it would play its role in revising the medical and dental curriculum to bring it at a par with international standards.

A doctor, requesting not to be quoted, said though the WFME never asked Pakistan to move to the modular system, some of the private universities and colleges wanted to introduce the system.

“In the modular system, a number of subjects are merged due to which one faculty member teaching only one subject will be able to teach around five subjects at a time as all of them will be merged. Moreover, the number of exams will be reduced and as a result the colleges will get financial benefits.

“The modular system also says that students should hold discussions among themselves rather than focusing on the quality of teachers,” he said.

“The WFME has 109 standards such as standard of faculty members, quality of education, criteria to admit students, student-faculty member ratio and basic facilities in medical colleges. But here, private universities are only interested in the modular system,” he said.

“There is a demand of Pakistani doctors all over the world because of their competency but the new system will not make them perfect. If integration of subjects is necessary it should be done in the last year of education instead of the first year. It is a fact that the subject-based system is mostly functional across the globe,” he said.

According to a statement issued by the PMDC, Dr Grant said the WFME standards were developed to help deans of medical schools, who managed medical education and designed the curriculum, in taking appropriate decisions.

“WFME does not prescribe any particular way of developing or managing the curriculum. We do not promote any particular approach to curriculum design, teaching and learning or assessment,” Dr Grant said.

PMDC Vice President Prof Dr Abid Farooqui said the council was following the guidelines and standards provided by all international organisations.

He assured Dr Grant of PMDC’s full support in clarifying the misconceptions regarding the WFME policies and directions to all medical colleges in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2017