Contents

1. The Medical Education System of India
2. International Medical Education Directory (IMED)

The Medical Education System of India[1]

Graduates of medical schools in India represent a significant number of the international medical graduates practicing medicine in the United States. During the ten-year period 1993 — 2002, ECFMG issued Standard ECFMG Certificates to 18,493 graduates of medical schools in India. India represents the country with the highest number of medical schools listed in the International Medical Education Directory (IMED) maintained by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER). There are currently 153 medical schools in India listed in IMED. The medical education system in India is, therefore, an area of particular interest to medical licensure professionals.

We will discuss the role of the Medical Council of India with respect to medical education and licensure in India. Additionally, we will provide information on the curriculum in the medical schools, including student admission requirements, and the requirements for a license to practice medicine.

The Role of the Medical Council of India

The functions of the Medical Council of India include the maintenance of uniform standards of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, recommendations to the government regarding requests to start new medical schools or increase admissions to existing schools, recommendations for the recognition of medical qualifications of Indian or foreign institutions and registration (licensure) of doctors with recognized medical qualifications. The Medical Council of India has been designated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India to make recommendations to the Ministry concerning the recognition of individual medical schools so that graduates of these medical schools may meet the requirements for full registration (licensure) to practice medicine. According to the Medical Council of India, there were 592,215 physicians registered in India as of December 31, 2003.[2]

Admission Requirements to a Medical College

The requirements for admission to all medical colleges offering the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) course are set by the Medical Council of India.

A candidate for admission must be at least 17 years of age on or before December 31 of the year of admission to the MBBS course, and must have passed one of several possible qualifying examinations for admission to the MBBS course, with an emphasis on education in physics, chemistry, and biology.

The Medical School Curriculum

The duration of the medical curriculum as established by the Medical Council is four and one-half academic years in three Phases, consisting of nine semesters of six months each. There are three professional examinations that students must pass.

Phase I, lasting two semesters is pre-clinical, including courses in anatomy, bio-physics, and bio-chemistry. The 1st Professional Examination is taken during the second semester; students do not begin Phase II until the examination is passed.

Phase II, lasting three semesters, is para-clinical and clinical courses, during which para-clinical subjects such as pathology, pharmacology and microbiology are taken concurrently with clinical teaching in medicine, surgery and obstetrics and gynecology. The 2nd Professional Examination is taken during the fifth semester.

Phase III is a continuation of the clinical courses. The first part of the 3rd Professional Examination is taken during the seventh semester. A student who fails the 2nd Professional Examination is not permitted to sit the 3rd Professional Examination Part I until all components of the 2nd Professional Examination are passed.

Passing Part I of the 3rd Professional Examination is not mandatory before beginning 8th and 9th semester training; however, the Part I examination must be passed before Part II of the 3rd Professional Examination is taken, usually during the last semester.

Compulsory Rotating Internship

After passing the final MBBS examination (Part II of the 3rd Professional Examination), every student is required to complete a one-year compulsory rotating internship. A Certificate of Provisional Registration is issued to the student for the internship training.

The required components of the internship are:

• Community Medicine 3 months
• Medicine 2 months
• Surgery, including Orthopedics 2 months
• Obstetrics & Gynecology 2 months
• Family Welfare Planning 15 days
• Pediatrics 15 days
• Ophthalmology 15 days
• Otorhinolaryngology 15 days
• Casualty 1 month

In addition to completing the required components above, students must complete two electives for fifteen days each from the following specialties:

• Dermatology & Sexually-Transmitted Diseases
• Psychiatry
• Tuberculosis & Respiratory Diseases
• Anesthesia
• Radio-Diagnosis
• Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
• Forensic Medicine & Toxicology
• Blood Bank and Transfusion

Medical Education Credentials Awarded (Medical Diploma and License to Practice Medicine)

Medical Diploma (MBBS Diploma)

After completion of the medical curriculum, including the internship satisfactory to the medical college and university authorities, the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree is awarded by the university. The Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) diploma is the medical diploma that ECFMG requires graduates of medical schools in India to submit for the purpose of ECFMG certification and is the diploma that ECFMG must verify directly with the medical school.

The MBBS diploma is awarded not by the medical school, but by the university with which the medical school is affiliated. For example, a graduate of Grant Medical College, Mumbai, receives the MBBS diploma from the university with which Grant Medical College is affiliated, currently the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences.

More than one medical school may be affiliated with a single university. As an example, there are now thirty-one medical schools in India that are affiliated with the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. Additionally, individual medical schools may change university affiliation. Some of the medical schools currently affiliated with the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences were previously affiliated with other universities. The Topiwala National Medical College was formerly affiliated with the University of Mumbai, the Government Medical College, Nagpur, was formerly affiliated with Nagpur University and the Armed Forces Medical College was formerly affiliated with the University of Pune (Poona).

License to Practice Medicine (Certificate of Full Registration)

After the graduate has received the MBBS diploma, the graduate is eligible to apply to the Medical Council of India or one of individual state medical councils (e.g., Gujarat Medical Council) for a Certificate of Full Registration, which is the license to practice medicine.

The International Medical Education Directory (IMED)

Professionals in the medical licensure community in the United States have long expressed a desire for an up-to-date, easily accessible reference that provides basic information on medical education and medical schools throughout the world.

There are more than 1,800 medical schools worldwide, each with its own curriculum, training and evaluation methods, and accreditation processes. While there have previously been a number of efforts to gather information on the characteristics of medical schools and the quality of their graduates, current and meaningful data are often inadequate. In addition, physicians are crossing borders with increasing frequency to pursue graduate medical education and licensure outside the countries where they receive their medical education. As a result, the international community has sought accurate and up-to-date resources that provide basic information about the medical schools attended by these physicians.

To meet these needs, and to promote excellence in international medical education, the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER ©) developed and published the International Medical Education Directory (IMED).

The International Medical Education Directory (IMED) is a web-based resource on the world's medical schools that is freely available on the FAIMER website at www.faimer.org. The information available through IMED is derived from the extensive body of current and historical data developed by ECFMG throughout its history of evaluating the medical education credentials of international medical graduates. Using these data as a starting point, FAIMER began developing IMED in 2001 and introduced it in April 2002. Enhancements during 2002 have increased the number of schools listed and the types of information available. Currently IMED contains for each medical school the:

• Medical school name
• Name of the university with which the medical school is affiliated (if applicable)
• Medical school address, telephone/fax numbers and email address
• Medical school website address
• Former official names of the medical school (if applicable)
• Degree title (title of the medical degree currently awarded by the medical school or university)
• Graduation years, which are calendar years the medical school has been recognized by the government agency in the country where the school is located. Graduation years for many schools begin in 1953, although individual medical schools may have been recognized prior to that date.
• Year instruction began
• Language of instruction
• Duration of the curriculum
• Entrance examination requirement
• Eligibility of foreign (non-national) students
• Total enrollment

A particularly helpful feature in IMED for licensing professionals is the provision of information on changes in medical school names and other changes such as medical school mergers. An example is Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine in the United Kingdom. IMED includes information that this medical school was created on August 1, 1998 by the merger of King's College London (including the former King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry) and the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St. Thomas's, which had been formed in 1982 by the merger of Guy's Hospital Medical School and St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School.

The schools listed in IMED are those that are recognized by the government agencies in the countries where the medical schools are located. The agency responsible for this recognition in most countries is the Ministry of Health. The information listed for each medical school is provided by the appropriate government agency and by officials of the medical school. Listing of a medical school in IMED does not denote recognition, accreditation or endorsement by FAIMER.

FAIMER updates IMED continuously as new information is received from these agencies concerning their recognition of medical schools, and from the officials of the listed medical schools. FAIMER has added more than sixty international medical schools to IMED since its introduction in April 2002.

You can access the International Medical Education Directory (IMED) at www.faimer.org.

Comments or questions? E-mail us at imeded@ecfmg.org.

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[1] Information from the Medical Council of India website http://www.mciindia.org and the ECFMG medical education credentials reference library.

[2] Annual Report 2001-2002, Medical Council of India