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Medical syllabus outdated | NCA acting class
Medical syllabus outdated, full of inadequacies: educationist
Islamabad: The country's current medical curriculum is outdated and replete with gross
inadequacies, which have a negative bearing on the character, talents,
enthusiasm and performance of a doctor, country's leading medical educationist
Prof Dr Anwarul Haque said in an interview.
He warned that
the quality of medical education as well as overall healthcare would further dip
if immediate corrective steps were not taken.
Dr Haque, who also heads
Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Pathology Department, said that a
critical look at the medical curriculum revealed gross inadequacies, which were
directly yet amply reflected in their products i.e. doctors. He said the
deficiencies were multidimensional and adversely impacted the character,
capability, zeal, care, commitment and performance of a doctor. He said that
poorly trained and defectively formed doctors greatly contributed towards
'failed and incompetent' health system.
He said that current medical
curriculum didn't educate students about ethical values and impact of costly yet
useless investigations.
He said that defective curricula coupled with
ill-formed strategies led to the 'killing' of lots of potential medical
scientists and researchers. He said like other parts of the world, all
stakeholders like teachers, students and community members should be given due
share in development and assessment of the medical curricula.
"The
students overcome the gross and severe deficiencies of medical education system
by their natural abilities and hard work; but at the same time this masks the
deficiencies in our medical education system. This is gradually deteriorating
the quality of doctors being produced," he said.
He regretted that
curriculum evaluation had been limited to the 'whims and inclination' of bodies,
which developed medical curriculum, adding no feedback is sought from the
doctors, faculty members and medical students.
Dr Haque also insisted
that the present pre-medical curriculum was lengthy and the students were
burdened by details, which they would never require during the later medical
education. "Irrelevant material should be extricated from the curriculum and
replaced by useful material. This will require updating the textbooks and
training the teachers," he said.
According to him, undergraduate medical
curriculum consists of lengthy courses and too much information most of which
the students forget after a year or so. He emphasised that learning should be
student-centred.
"This requires addition of problem-based learning and
tutorials in the teaching methodology, integration of clinical and pre-clinical
studies, coupled with a reduction in the redundant and useless factual
knowledge, content and minimising the strict boundaries of identifiable," he
said.
The educationist also pointed out that the pre-medical years gave
too much importance to subjects like botany, which was hardly ever used by
doctors in their practical lives. He suggested that instead of botany in great
details, practical parasitology, mycology and bacteriology might be taught at
pre-medical level.
"Such subjects will not only be useful in medical
education but will also raise the awareness level of diseases in general
public," he said.
He further said that instead of teaching frog,
cockroaches and earthworm anatomy, basic human anatomy and physiology along with
their practical applications could be taught to students. He said at all levels,
curriculum and teaching strategies should instil better reading, writing,
presenting and analytical skills into medical students.
"At medical
college level, the distinction between basic and clinical subjects needs to be
diluted. There is a need for both horizontal and vertical integration. Basic
life saving skills and surgical procedures must be inculcated. All subjects may
be taught in an integrated form from very beginning," he said.
Dr Haque
said that anatomy of different parts should be preferably taught by the surgeons
of respective disciplines.
"Anatomy of head and neck should be taught by
the neurosurgeon and ENT surgeon and physiology and pharmacology by respective
physician like cardiologist should teach the physiology of heart, vessels and
circulation. Histology should be taught by the pathologists, who can bring fresh
specimens from the laboratory for students' examination. While teaching a bone
for example, the radiologist may show various images, pathologist may show its
microscopic structures and relevant pathology and orthopaedic surgeon may show
fractures and their implications," he said.
He said if the idea could not
be put into practice for any reason, then regular small group clinical
discussions of students with respective clinicians and surgeons should be
held.
He said that research, presentations and publications along with
critical analysis of journal articles needed to be encouraged. He further said
that moral and ethical values needed to be strengthened at all levels and in all
spheres. "I strongly feel that open debates with open minds and hearts will
evolve a health system which is just right for mankind," he said.
He said
the country needed to constantly evaluate our curricula and teaching strategies
to produce balanced, competent and humane doctors possessing great spark and
motivation for hard work, research and teaching. He said medical education must
undergo significant change to better prepare physicians for rapidly evolving
health care needs.
"There's a urgent need to identify opportunities for
improving the four phases of physician education – pre-medical, and medical
college education, residency training, and continuing medical education," he
said. Daily Times
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NCA acting class starts
Rawalpindi: Changing your emotions at the snap of a finger can be learnt
only through your imaginary perceptions, as to how you perceive the environment,
change your emotions upon interaction with people and react in different
situations.
These were some of the tips given by experts at the Theatre
Department of National College of Arts (NCA) while conducting a beginner's
acting class here Tuesday.
Usman Khalid Butt, a faculty member at NCA's
Theatre Department, and Tulin Khalid Azeem started the class by first relaxing
the newcomers who seemed quite nervous in the beginning. But as the class
progressed, they seemed at ease and followed the instructions given by their
trainers.
Without the provision of any backdrop, sound effects, and
spotlights as well as no audience to judge them, the beginners started with
learning how to relax, warm up and throw their voices, and did some exercises
for tongue twisting. They learnt to perceive an imaginary environment with a
make-believe character and act according to the situation that was given by
their teacher. Some acted very well while some needed practice, but on the
whole, the class was conducted in a professional way and not like our
conventional theatre dramas.
The students were given masks to put on and
were required to transform instantly into the character, deliver the dialogues
and act in line with the situation the character had plunged in. Happy, bored,
surprised, suspicious, shy, jealous, sad, and lost were some of the emotions
that were emitted by the students quite accurately. One could instantly identify
their sentiments by just watching them.
Claire Pamment, Head Theatre
Department, NCA said that it's just the beginning
of the class and with the passage of time, those who get enrolled with our
programme would obviously groom. "Right from rolling your eyeballs to the turn
of your finger changes the emotions and body language. To act, you have to feel
the character, situation and the emotions that one generates," she said.
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CM orders recruitment of 32 doctors for KGMC
Peshawar: The NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti directed the NWFP
Public Service Commission to immediately initiate the recruitment process of 32
doctors for the Khyber Girls Medical College Peshawar.
It may be
mentioned that the posts of senior registrar, assistant professors, associate
professors and professors had been placed with the Public Service Commission for
recruitment but were withdrawn later during the caretaker government on grounds
of placement problems. The commission had advertised these posts, though and
received more than 400 applications for these vacancies.
After assuming
the office of the chief minister, Hoti took serious notice of the issue and
directed that its requisition should not be withdrawn and the public Service
Commission should immediately start the process of hiring professionally
qualified doctors for the benefit of the people of NWFP.
The chief
minister also directed that wards for these professionals should be created in
Hayatabad Medical Complex, which had been declared as teaching hospital for KGMC
on the pattern of Khyber Teaching Hospital and Lady Reading Hospital, where a
number of wards exist for each specialty. The News
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