 |
| About Bioline | All Journals | Testimonials | Membership | News |
|
||||||
|
||||||
Indian Journal of Human Genetics, Vol. 8, No. 2, Jul-Dec, 2002 pp. 43-44 Editorial Teaching of Medical Genetics in the Medical Colleges of India - Way ahead K. Ghosh, D. Mohanty Institute of Immunohaematology, Mumbai Code Number: hg02009 Traditionally principles of Medical Genetics were taught as a few lecture series in the anatomy departments for undergraduate MBBS course. Subsequently some elements of medical genetics and molecular biology is continued to be taught in Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Microbiology and in Pediatrics specialities. However this teaching is largely unstructured and most often rudimentary. Absence of genetics services e.g. Cytogenetics, Genetic clinics and Genetic counseling units in >90% of the medical colleges in India hardly encourage the aspiring medical students to take up any branch of genetics as a career goal. Neglecting training in genetics and its current avtar i.e. molecular biology in medical colleges may have far reaching consequences for our medical service in future. Often the managers and politicians holding the powers to implement various policies shirk their responsibility by pointing out the absence of finance to support additional burden of genetic services in various medical colleges in our country. So what should we do? The training in genetics and molecular biology can no longer wait. We are already late. Future medicine and medical decision making is going to be heavily dependent on clear understanding of (i) Genetic risks (ii) Genetic variation in drug handling (ii) targeting prophylaxis against certain malignant and degenerative disorders on the basis of genetic risk evaluation (iv) Transplantation immunology (v) prenatal diagnosis technology (vi) molecular diagnostics as used for bacterial & viral diagnosis like estimation of viral load in HIV infection with its pitfalls and fallacies (vii) principles of gene therapy and complications which may potentially arise from such therapy (viii) National programmes to control heritable disorders like thalassaemias etc. We feel that it is possible to make a beginning. For quite some time one or two institutions in our country had shown how this could be possible. The Government and its planning wing must develop a long term goal to develop departments of clinical & laboratory genetic services all over the country and because genetic diagnosis if incorrect can cause immense damage to the user of this service. This service however, should also come with strict quality control. Till we have developed that kind of set up let us see how can we develop a functioning Genetic Service in the medical colleges immediately. In every medical college faculty members in the departments of Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology and in addition in some colleges faculty members of Pathology and Microbiology often have substantial spare time. Hence man power from these departments may be given additional training in centres of excellence like AIIMS, CMC Vellore, SGPGI, ACTREC, etc (Formerly Cancer Research Institute Mumbai) and in various excellent genetics departments of various universities. After a short training subsequently they can slowly develop their skills either as clinical geneticists or laboratory geneticists or molecular biologists. For a modest unit in a medical college two clinical geneticists, two laboratory geneticists and one molecular biologist may be required in the least. These faculty members can initially start genetic consultancy services in the hospital and subsequently start the clinics. Repeated short term training in various aspects of genetics may be needed to improve their performance. To get proper funds to set up laboratories for genetic studies these faculty members in consultation with their colleagues or other experts may develop one or two relevant research projects and submit it to the funding authorities. To prevent duplication of the services if there are many medical colleges in the city the services can be designed in such a way that optimum utilization of man power and laboratory resources are available. A proper curriculum in medical genetics and molecular biology should be developed for undergraduate student curriculum. They should be integrated in such a way that the student understands the relevance of these studies in day to day patient care. Indian Society of Human Genetics have many learned member in the field of medical genetics and we are sure that if their assistance is needed they will be only too happy to help. In our country nothing seems to progress without legislation or establishment of rules. Medical Council of India (MCI) has an important role to play in this regard. As education is a state subject, state governments will do well to review their resources in imparting training in medical genetics for their faculty in different medical colleges.It will be a very good idea if various departments of genetics in the universities or in autonomous institutions work in unison with the medical colleges assuring bilateral exchange of expertise, ultimately promoting the medical genetics in the country. In this connection we would like to point out that the genetic counselling units which has cropped in various places out side medical institutions shuld incorporate a medical specialist in their team to make it more meaningful and effective. Copyright 2002 - the Indian Society of Human Genetics |
| |||||||||
