New Delhi: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has issued new guidelines for Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) curriculum with the objective to transform medical education to address the needs of the healthcare sector in both the national as well as international landscape. The NMC’s new guidelines for the Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) curriculum will be implemented from the 2024-25 academic session. An official notice dated August 31 stated that “Under Graduate Medical Education Board after due deliberations with the Expert Groups and in the exercise of powers conferred by the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, particularly by sections 10, 24, 25 and 57 of the NMC Act, publishes the Competency-Based Medical Education Guidelines, 2024 along with CBME Competencies Volume-I, II, and III.”
The goals setup by the NMC through its new curriculum as in the official notice include:- The Indian Medical Graduate should be able to recognize “health for all” as a national goal and the health right of all citizens; He/she should learn the key aspects of National policies on health and devote himself to its practical implementation; The IMG must achieve competence in the practice of holistic medicine, encompassing promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative aspects of common diseases; The IMG must develop a scientific temper, acquire educational experience for proficiency in the profession, and promote healthy living; He/she should become an exemplary citizen by observance of medical ethics and fulfilling social and professional obligations, so as to respond to national aspirations.
The NMC through this new guidelines wants medical education to be continues and evolving based on feedback and experience of CBME in the last 5 years since its inception in 2019. It intends to make medical education more learner-centric, patient-centric, gender-sensitive, outcome-oriented, and environment-appropriate, thereby conforming to global trends. Through the CBME curriculum, the goal is to create an “Indian Medical Graduate” (IMG) who possesses the requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and responsiveness to function appropriately and effectively as a physician of first contact with the community while being globally relevant.