Wardha: Expansion of medical education must go hand in hand with quality, equity and access, and increasing the number of medical seats should not be mistaken for dilution of standards, National Medical Commission (NMC) chairperson Dr Abhijat Sheth said on Saturday.Sheth stressed that capacity building is the first step to reach excellence and create equity. “India now has more than 1.4 lakh undergraduate and 86,000 postgraduate medical seats, with further expansion expected in the coming years. We have done the capacity building, but we must not shy away from focusing on quality of education,” he said.He was speaking at the 17th ceremonial convocation of Adani Institute of Higher Education and Research (AIHER), a deemed-to-be university, at Wardha. Degrees were awarded to 2,320 graduands, including 123 PhD scholars and 83 medal winners, on the occasion.Research integration is another area being pursued by NMC. “From next year, NMC, in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), will start postdoctoral PhD programmes,” he said. The commission is also working on strengthening clinical research requirements at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including access to logistical resources and funding.He said NMC had introduced several reforms, including competency-based medical education, digitalisation and digital literacy, faculty qualification reforms and rationalisation of minimum standards for medical colleges. These measures were aimed at removing unnecessary barriers to expansion while retaining prescribed educational standards.Sheth stressed that the objective of medical education was not merely to produce more doctors but competent professionals capable of adapting to rapidly emerging technologies, making sound clinical decisions and communicating effectively with patients.“Medical competence and compassion must go hand in hand,” he said and added, “Medical graduates should be clinically competent, ethically grounded and socially responsible.”He also highlighted technology as a means of addressing inequity in healthcare delivery while stressing the need to ensure that specialist expertise reaches remote rural communities.In her address, AIHER chancellor Priti Adani announced plans to strengthen hospital infrastructure, clinical research and super-speciality services at its Wardha and Nagpur campuses over the next two years.She said a roadmap would also be developed for applied research and centres of excellence, with research focusing on prevention, early diagnosis, affordable treatment and maternal and child care.Adani said the group’s healthcare vision included developing multiple campuses across India, with each campus responding to local needs while following common standards. “Wardha and Nagpur will always remain central to this great journey,” she said.
