Now Medical Students will get lessons on Cost!
Medical Council of India (MCI) has planned to provide MBBS students with the required knowledge of the cost of treatments. Students will be taught about the cost of treatments, how to finance health care and the impact of high medical bills on patients. It will be implemented as part of 2 months foundation course.
The national summit on medical education took place in Delhi and from now on all the medical students will have to learn sociology, ethics, communication and stress management from 2012 and it has been declared as mandatory. Few experts believe that medical students are not aware about the costs of tests and treatments they order for patients. 
In the due time of course, students learn as how to prescribe tests and treatments based on their scientific knowledge and evidences. During the practical sessions at hospitals, discussing the cost is a big taboo when the students are being taught about the various treatments. Thereby, most of the doctors are not aware about the cost-effective practices when they begin their practice.
A Delhi based Cardiac Surgeon said that doctors are not technicians; they should get best teachings as how to become good human beings. An internee said that, it will help in the development of young doctors and there's no disincentive for ordering costly tests as the hospitals have ample of tests they offer and all we have to do is to check mark the tests as per patients needs.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chairman Dr VM Katoch, MCI chairman Dr KK Talwar and representatives from different state governments in the presence of Union health minister Gulam Nabi Azad has agreed upon introducing the foundation course. This foundation course is just a basic introduction and it will help students in prompting some basic discussions during the course.
Dr George Thomas, editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, suggested that, MCI should provide with the credit system for humanities in medicine like the IITs do so that students will take the course seriously and will perform well. In this students will not have to sit for exam but they should be credited with certificates or additional grades every academic year.
Source: Richha Bhatnagar (Shiksha Team)
