"Every citizen is entitled to basic education and healthcare," said Dr Preetha Reddy, Executive Vice-Chairperson, of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, in a conversation with Dr Sumanth C Raman, healthcare analyst and political commentator, on the second day of the ThinkEdu Conclave on Friday, February 10. Discussing the issue of ‘Cost of Healthcare: The Gap in Medical Education’, she added that India was in the right direction in terms of making healthcare accessible and affordable to future generations.
Explaining her vision for India as a progressive medical nation, Dr Reddy said, "India has an ambitious vision to heal the world". And to realise this vision, she stressed that there was a need to rethink medical education, which does not confine itself to the progress of doctors alone but the entire medical fraternity that comprises paramedics, caregivers, pathologists and pharmacists as part of its industry.
Read Also : Andhra Pradesh gov't gives facelift to medical education sector with Rs 8430 crore
Addressing Dr Sumanth C Raman’s questions on the problems arising on account of rising costs of medical education, Dr Reddy stated that a proper regulatory system was needed. She admitted that the high cost of education couldn't be helped, but added, "We shouldn't charge so much that students are unable to access it." The healthcare experts also discussed the need to make a shift from the archaic norms of the past and move towards being smart about the technological advancements of the future. Dr Raman elaborated that skilling the medical students for the change was necessary. That emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and convergence of healthcare with engineering could reduce the cost of healthcare was a case in point while poring over the objectives of the National Digital Health Mission that seeks to amalgamate medical knowledge with technology. A decade’s wait was what was suggested to be able to witness a concrete change in the functioning of the country’s medical ecosystem.
Continuing to share their thoughts on medical education, the two panelists stressed the need for establishing a higher number of nursing colleges. While they complimented the Centre’s announcement in the recent budget to open 157 nursing institutes, the real need was beyond 1,570 institutes of nursing, the two admitted.
The session also brought forth the debate on the introduction of medical courses in regional languages. Balancing the scales, Dr Reddy stated, "If you take a medical degree in France, you have to speak French. Many of our states are bigger than France. Then why not? But there is a portability issue, which has to be thought through,” she said.
Addressing a question from the audience on the need to counsel medical aspirants at the school level, Dr Raman pointed out that senior professionals in the industry should handhold the young in the medical field and understand what the sector can do for them. "We have to understand what future students want. Otherwise, we will have unhappy doctors and that is scary."
