Mission Statement

To deliver Information Technology based quality education to the Health Care Providers (HCP) at any distance and to facilitate cutting edge research in delivery of medical education.

Objectives of Medvarsity

1. To Complement existing education system for the health care
    providers.

2. To strengthen basic conceptual foundation of the undergraduates,
    postgraduates and other HCP.

3. To apply information technology tools and computer based solutions
    for the simplification of complex     subjects, to facilitate the learning
    process across the network of delivery points spread over in the    
    entire country. Hence, obviating the need for geographical relocation
    of the professionals.

4. To resource, store and forward a range of medical information for the
    benefit of HCP.

5. To undertake and encourage research in the development of new
    information technology tools     relevant to medical education and its
    virtual delivery.

6. To research and establish cost effective technology in health care for
    a wider distribution.

The Need

Quality of health care is mainly dependent on the level of the knowledge, skills and the experience of the Health Care Providers (HCP). Medvarsity will educate and update the knowledge of the entire fraternity of HCP of the country. It would act as a catalyst for the knowledge acquirement of various groups of HCP. This university would strengthen the standard of medical practice, education and research by strengthening the current medical education and continued medical education. It would be complimentary to the existing medical education system of the country. Through its network it would rationally distribute its resources far and wide, irrespective of the geographical location of the delivery point.

The current status of Medical Education

Information obtained from the National Teachers Training Center (NTTC) sponsored by the World Health Organization reveals that at the end of 1999 there were160 medical colleges. Of these, 40 were in the private sector and the remaining were either state funded or supported. Annual intake of these colleges is approximately 18,000 undergraduates every year contributing to a total pool of 100,000 medical students at any given time. There are about 30,000 postgraduates in various specialties in these colleges.

Undergraduates

Against the required strength of 16,000 medical teachers there are only 7,500 teachers manning these colleges which is 50-55% below the norms of teacher/taught ratio prescribed by the Medical Council of India. Hence, majority of colleges are facing a threat of de-recognition. A large number of subjects are devoid of teachers and are being taught by the teachers of related specialties.

State funded medical colleges enjoy low political priority, they suffer severe resource crunch and face a severe neglect by the respective state governments. Grossly deficient infrastructure and deficiency in number of teachers as well as quality contribute significantly to the overall poor quality of medical education.

Medical educational reforms and research is not on the cards. Around 50 colleges have not published a single scientific paper over the last several years. However, the silver lining is that students are selected through a fierce competition and hence are of very high quality. Despite their strong urge to learn, they are totally dependent on whatever is being provided at the college. Except for the printed literature they have no other source to learn and cover up their deficiencies.

Postgraduates

There are about 25,000 postgraduates pursuing degree/diploma courses in these160 colleges. Except for the major postgraduate institutes and a few medical colleges the standard of education is extremely poor. They get qualified as specialists without development of adequate psychomotor skills and find it extremely difficult to obtain training after getting speciality qualifications. Hence, most of the learning is on the job or through various workshops, courses conducted by the respective speciality associations and societies.

Practitioners

There is no formal way for the practitioners to update their knowledge and they are totally dependent on printed journals and books. A small number of them do attend annual conferences. Majority of them are extremely busy with their private practice leaving very little time to update their knowledge.

Centres of excellence comparable with the world standards are available in major cities, providing quality medical training for a very few HCPs and their services are available only for a select segment of the population.