MBBS curriculum debate: Activists demand inclusion of LGBTQ and Disability sensitivity in Indian Medical Graduates

In less than a week after the National Medical Commission’s released its new Competency-Based Medical Education Curriculum guidelines for MBBS students, the Commission did a U-turn and withdrew the document. “The curriculum’s sole focus on the management of disabilities reinforces the NMC’s outdated and archaic emphasis on the medical model of disability rather than the human rights model of disability,” the group said. “Following the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education 1997, a new crisp ‘avatar’ in the form of GMER 2023 was placed last year,” it notes, adding that the changes were brought in as “it was time to have a relook at all aspects of the various components in the existing regulations and guidelines, and adapt them to the changing demography, socio-economic context, perceptions, values, advancements in medical education and expectations of stakeholders.’’ Additionally, it notes that the revision was needed to accommodate emerging health care issues, particularly in the context of emerging diseases, as well as the impact of advances in science and technology and shorter distances on diseases and their management. “The undergraduate medical education program is designed with a goal to create an Indian Medical Graduate possessing requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and responsiveness, so that she or he may function appropriately and effectively as a physician of first contact of the community while being globally relevant,’’ the Commission said.