Govt to pilot rank system at 8 medical colleges

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : The National Medical Commission (NMC) is finalizing the process of ranking private and government medical colleges. As part of the plan, the medical education regulator will be conducting a pilot in eight medical colleges across India, during which, officials from the NMC and the Quality Council of India will survey patients, students, teachers and conduct random inspections. After the pilot, an approved system of rating will be replicated countrywide.

This is the first time colleges in India are being rated for the quality of their education and patient care. The ranking aims to bring transparency, accountability and adherence to high standards in the medical education ecosystem. “On Monday, we had the first round of meeting to discuss the rating system of the medical colleges.

As of now, we plan to perform pilot in medical colleges across India to ascertain which system of rating would work for medical colleges," said a government official. “Whether it should be a star-rating in hotels or it a grading system (A,B,C,D etc.), this rating will be done based on our expert analysis. Experts will survey teachers, students, patients, examine the quality education, fee structure, and infrastructure facilities inside the campus." Replies to queries sent to the health ministry were awaited at press time.

“By September end, the complete plan should be ready. One of the rating models will be replicated for all medical colleges in the country," said the official. According to health minister Mansukh Mandaviya the number of medical colleges grew 82% from 387 before 2014 to 704 as of now.