July 20, 2019
From 1 August, the undergraduate medical curriculum will finally
include a sizeable component on disability rights, something that has been a
longstanding demand of many disability rights experts.
Following a sustained push by disability rights activist Dr Satendra
Singh and two government bodies, the Medical Council of
India (MCI) will finally include a major component on disability
rights in the MBBS curriculum. This will come into effect from 1 August
confirms Dr Avinash Supe of the MCI.
“The idea of including the disability competencies is to address different
cultural complexities in these medical institutions and not only include the
needs of people with disabilities”, said Dr Supe, who is the
Chairman, Reconciliation Board, MCI. “We have seen a lot
of casteism as well that happens in these medical institutes among such
groups and there is a need for a larger sensitisation among students and
faculty members”.
Dr Supe also said there would be a focus on other aspects apart from
curriculum towards building inclusion. “All colleges must have a mechanism
in place in case students need support and they must get a structural audit
done, which means they should have ramps, railings, bars, etc. in place. This
is necessary for students as well as patients. So, the focus will be on three
aspects”.
The MCI curriculum was updated earlier this year after over 20 years but did
not reflect the disability competencies that had been framed by Dr Singh,
founder of the group Doctors with Disabilities along with
the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence, University of
Chicago. These competencies were the result of extensive focused
group discussions with disabled people, disabled medical experts, disability
rights activists and medical educators.
After repeated interventions by theChief Commissioner for Persons
with Disabilities (CCPD) and State Commissioner (Delhi) for
Persons with Disabilities, T D Dhariyal, the MCI has finally taken
note.
The new MCI competency-based curriculum was lacking in understanding
disability as a human rights issue. We were already working on disability
competencies along with the Bucksbaum Institute at University of Chicago on
this. Two statutory disability bodies recommended our curriculum to the MCI
and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Initially it was circulated
by the MCI to all 521 medical colleges and now it part of it has been
incorporated into the one-month Foundation Course which begins in August. –
Dr Satendra Singh, Fellow, MacLean Centre for Clinical Medical
Ethics
The inclusion is great news, says Dr Singh as it will bring in a human rights
perspective vis- -vis disability, something that is critically needed.
“Future Indian medical graduate students will look at disability from a
human right perspective. The new curriculum also has one month electives in
the fourth year and my next plan is to have an elective on Disability
Medicine”.
The new curriculum mandates that doctors should describe disability as per
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities. Section 47(1)(b) of the RPWD
Act 2016 also says disability should be a component of education
courses at schools and colleges, while Section 39(2)(d) specifies that
orientation and sensitisation towards disability and people with disabilities
should be a part of university and professional training.
Various studies show that a disability-centered approach in medical education
plays a big role in building greater empathy. There is a need to train health
professionals in skills beyond technical competence.
“What we realised during the focused group discussions with Doctors with
Disabilities was that no one was listening to them, says Dr Amir Khan
Maroof, Associate professor, Community Medicine, University College of
Medical Sciences and a member of Medical Humanities
Group, which was involved in framing the competencies.
“It was in listening to them that we developed the competencies. They were
sharing their lived experiences and that made us realise that they should be
the one teaching us. The medical curriculum must reflect that, and disability
competencies will help change the picture”.
