Doctors: MCI’s prescription on communication skills unwanted

Hyderabad: While the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) revamped MBBS curriculum introducing communication as a subject for medical education is scheduled to be introduced this year in the state, doctors say that the measure is a classic example of misdirected action. The logic behind bringing in communication skills as part of medical education was to address the growing communication gap between patients and doctors, which has now escalated to a near communication breakdown.
The subject is meant to help MBBS students learn the basics of medical ethics and learn nuances of doctor-patient relationship.Although at present, medical professionals do not receive any such focussed training in soft skills, junior doctors blame the lack of basic infrastructure and huge workload to be the main reason behind the repeated incidents of attacks on doctors in government hospitals. “Attacks on doctors are due to administrative failure by the government and not due to lack of communication skills. When patients come here, there are no stretchers, no medication and no wheelchairs. The government is encouraging the corporate hospitals at the cost of primary healthcare. How will communication help in this circumstance? Without addressing the basic lapses, MCI just wants to do fancy things. It is just an eyewash to fool citizens,” said Dr PS Vijayender Goud, president Telangana Junior Doctors Association (TJUDA).
Adding that communication has to be learnt in practice rather than as a subject, a junior doctor working at the state-run Osmania General Hospital (OGH) said, “Nuances of dealing with sensitive situations are learnt during practice, by observing seniors’ reactions during such situations. Now, with a large number of undergraduate and postgraduate seats, there is an imbalance between the number of faculty and medical students, making it impossible to learn anything.”
While stressing on the importance of communication skills, Dr Sanjeev Singh Yadav, secretary, Indian Medical Association (IMA) said that it’s the huge workload on doctors that leads to improper communication.
Meanwhile, the state health department has already begun preparations to introduce communication as a subject this year.