Now, regular tests for doctors?

NEW DELHI: How many times do you get the feeling that the good old family doctor is losing touch and you have to look for a younger professional? Well, the old faithful is likely to be as much on the ball as a fresher if health minister Anbumani Ramadoss has his way. For, the minister has proposed a test every five years for every practising doctor to check their familiarity with medical developments.
"Medical research is at the cutting edge today and there are frequent breakthroughs," said Ramadoss, a doctor himself."Most doctors do not keep pace with latest developments and, as a result, get outdated within a decade or so. The five-year test will force them to keep pace with the latest."
Doctors seemed divided in their opinion. While Indian Medical Association president Dr Subroto Roy felt it was a good move and agreed skill upgradation was essential, IMA secretary-general Dr Vinay Aggarwal said: "This isn''t a practical idea. You will need a lot of money to set up the infrastructure for these tests which can be utilised for developing the primary health sector."
Ramadoss doesn''t believe the issue should be seen in a refresher test versus primary health perspective. "I myself am prepared to take the test," he said. "Both are important - while India should have a good primary health system, it should also have doctors conversant with the latest."
The minister proposes to introduce the test in the government cadre first. He said he would soon initiate talks with doctors to evolve the proposed programme. At present, 70-odd institutes grant medical registration. The number probably has to go up for an efficient validation programme. And the Medical Council Act would have to be amended to make revalidation mandatory.