Dear Editor, The article “Understanding the Need for Developing a Structured Competency-based Curriculum for Health Policy and Programs among Community Medicine Postgraduates (PGs): A Grounded Theory Approach”1 is well-written and highlights one of the burning issues pertaining to the PG curriculum in the specialty of community medicine. The authors have rightly identified the gaps and raised genuine issues. Countrywide, the concept of “Learning by doing” is a miss in the PG curriculum of this specialty. Recently, some positive innovative steps have been taken in this direction, one of which has been the District Residency Program (DRP).2 However, its limited duration of 3 months, especially in our specialty, does not fully serve the desired purpose. The primary objective of this program for community medicine residents was the acquisition of administrative, financial, and managerial skills. This objective has been sidelined due to their deployment in outpatient departments, indoor wards, and emergency departments of the district hospitals. Furthermore, 1 or 2 weeks of postings of PGs at the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) and National Health Mission (NHM) level has not solved the purpose of understanding the “working pattern and ground realities of policies and programs.” We have a few suggestions for rectifying the above-mentioned issues highlighted by the authors. The faculty members from the department of community medicine of various medical colleges could be actively involved in program implementation and operational research at the state and district levels.3 This bidirectional touch with the field as well as the medical college would ensure better implementation of the programs at the ground level. Thereafter, the PG students can be attached with the faculty members on a rotational basis throughout their PG tenure. This would help them in keeping abreast with the ever-evolving, and updated guidelines of various national health programs. This real-time experience and hands-on training would automatically culminate in bringing out the real essence of “Learning by doing.” It would enable them to become well-versed in practical aspects, supplemented by the theoretical milieu of the programs in the medical college curriculum. As far as our specialty is concerned, such type of an arrangement has the potential to produce better results than the DRP. Moreover, competency-based medical education for PG would automatically be taken care of if such planning and provision is in place. This would require a consensus and willingness on the part of all stakeholders, namely, the Principal Secretary of Health, DHS, NHM, Director of Medical Education, District Chief Medical Officers, Principals, and Faculty of the respective medical colleges. In the long run, it is likely to benefit the specialty of community medicine and public health discipline in the country as a whole. This would also enhance our relevance with our direct involvement in policy planning, framing, and implementation. Our recommendations would carry weightage and are likely to be taken more seriously by the policy planners at the state and national levels. These measures would silence the voices that sometimes come from certain quarters that this subject should be removed from the undergraduate curriculum. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.
Barwal et al. (Thu,) studied this question.