MBBS first year syllabus revised by Medical Council of India

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has ruled a change in the syllabus of first year MBBS course. The change is being made after a gap of 17 years. The new syllabus will allow first year MBBS students to treat patients giving a new shape to the revised syllabus. MCI will upload the revised syllabus on its website after obtaining the copyright for which it has already applied.

In a press conference, MCI's Chief Consultant Dr M. Rajalakshmi said that MBBS curriculum needed to be changed to make it competence-based.

In 2011, MCI submitted a proposal for the new syllabus in the name of Vision 2015 with the ministry of health, but the implementation was stalled due to disagreements within the body. "The apex regulatory body of doctors has now revived the plan by submitting a fresh version of the syllabus after making a few modifications," a daily quoted an MCI source as saying.

Though the medical students generally start clinical practices at the end of their second year, the new curriculum will introduce clinical practices in the first year itself. The Convenor of MCI regional centre in Christian Medical College, Vellore, Dr Dhayakani Selvakumar said in a newspaper report that the first year students learn only subject-oriented topics, and there was a need to modify the course according to practicability.

According to the modified syllabus, Radiology and Surgery will be introduced in the new MBBS syllabus. As per MCI sources, the new syllabus for MBBS has been revived by a group of doctors of the body making some alterations in the syllabus. In 1997, some changes were made to the MBBS syllabus to bring down the tenure for the first year from 18 months to 12 months.