Postgraduate medical education in South Asia

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7443.779

BMJ 2004;328:779 (3 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7443.779

Editorial

Postgraduate medical education in South Asia

Time to move on from the postcolonial era

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Undergraduate and postgraduate education increased rapidly inthe post-independence era in South Asia—except for Bhutanand the Maldives, which do not have medical schools. Now inIndia alone, 136 medical schools admit more than 6000 traineesinto postgraduate programmes.¹

Satisfaction over the numbers who have completed postgraduateeducation conceals the challenges facing the region. Specialisttraining is in the traditional apprenticeship style rather thanan appraisal based approach. Selection of assessment tools isnot governed by modern educational theory. Some postgraduateexaminations rely on outmoded assessments, such as essays andlong cases. Training in research, ethical issues, concepts ofteam work, and management is variable. Standards for accreditationare ill defined and not uniformly applied. Training programmesare rarely subjected to external review or internal qualitycontrol. National medical councils, expected to set and maintainstandards, have failed to introduce quality assurance measureson a par with the UK's General . . . [Full text of this article]

Lalitha Mendis, director

Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, 160, Norris Canal Road, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka (lalithamendis@yahoo.com)

B V Adkoli, educationalist

KL Wig Centre for Medical Education & Technology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India

R K Adhikari, dean

Institute of Medicine, PO Box No 1524, Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal

M Muzaherul Huq, director

Institute of Public Health, Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh

Asma Fozia Qureshi, dean, public health

College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, 7th Central Street, Defence Housing Authority Phase II, Karachi 75500, Pakistan

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