Paper chase

Research must be encouraged in medicine. But mandating student publications?

The Medical Council of India has recommended that postgraduate medical students must present a paper at a national-level conference and publish in a reputed journal before they can sit for their examination. The MCI had earlier made it mandatory for assistant and associate professors to publish if they were to be promoted. The new proposal,which reports suggest is likely to get the health ministrys nod,aims to boost research in medicine. It is in line with HRD Minister Kapil Sibals emphasis on research in higher education even though his ministry has no direct control of this. As Sibal points out,Indias contribution to global research has slipped to 2.87 per cent from 10 per cent about 30 years ago.

While the idea of encouraging research and publication is good in theory,the MCIs current plans make little sense. For one,the requirements that students have to publish in high-quality journals is a high bar for so young an age,especially if not many faculty can boast of the same. Whats more,given the paucity of medical students and how tightly they are stretched in simply putting their learning to use in overburdened hospitals,this suggestion seems rather otherworldly at the moment. While gearing education towards first-hand research is a laudable aim,medical students,who learn by doing in the most valuable ways,shouldnt be burdened with too much workload. Surely incentives for research such as the National Science Research Fund which Sibal has mooted work better than forcing all students to comply with the same requirements.

The MCI has a point: more research in medicine will have long-term benefits. But the way to do this must be better tuned; top-down mandatory rules are precisely what ail the overregulated higher education sector. There should instead be facilities and funds that incentivise doctors and students

to pursue research and produce papers. It is hoped that the health ministry does not approve this particular recommendation,while at the same time coming up with novel and workable ideas to encourage research in medicine.