Dr Munir Ahmed R
The Central Council of Homoeopathy, New Delhi has proposed certain amendments to the existing Homoeopathic Postgraduate courses. These are published in the Gazette of India dated 5th March 2012. These become applicable with immediate effect all over the country. The batch of postgraduate students who take their admission for the year 2012 – 13 will come under its purview.
At the outset, it has to be observed that the regulations in force preceding this were gazetted on 31stOctober 2001. In its one decade of existence, this post-graduation course has attracted its share of criticisms. However, there is no documented effort to record its strengths or weakness. The criticism has remained in the realms of anecdotes.
Considering the fact that the newly proposed syllabus makes a significant deviation not only in the subject content, but also the direction of the course, it is only fair that the shift in focus should have been sufficiently explained to the profession. Lack of such a transparency makes one fear a sense of disregard to the customs of globally accepted norms. This also gives an impression of hasty decision imposition by the authorities.
On close scrutiny, the proposed amendments to the MD (Hom) have a new feature in the form of major and subsidiary subjects. As per the directions given in the ordnance of CCH, it is claimed that the syllabus remains the same for both major and subsidiary subjects, i.e., the contents of learning for Materia Medica will be the same whether it is studied as major subject or as a subsidiary subject.
Prima facie, this approach flies in the face of the logical evidence for postgraduate courses in any discipline. As pert the global standards for postgraduate education, the purpose is to nurture a discipline in an environment of research. This is aimed to generate evidences that can be collated to develop concepts and applications to further that discipline. This sets the postgraduate course apart from the undergraduate courses. The outcomes of postgraduation include developing human resources who can be researchers and / or teachers apart from being clinicians in the discipline.
It can therefore be surmised that the newly gazetted syllabus has been bamboozled upon the profession with little regard to the sensitivity and rationale for the future of homeopathic education. With this in background, we need to examine what is the way forward. It has to be remembered that the gazetted version is mandatory to be applied as it is, so as to obviate any legal hurdles for those who obtain their qualifications under this ordnance.
It is therefore, proposed to :
- Retain the distribution of subjects as it is given in the said CCH ordnance
- Maintain the scheme of examinations and marks distribution, as per the directions given in the said CCH ordnance
- Pass a resolution to notify the provisions of Homoeopathy (Postgarduate Degree Course MD (Hom) Regulations as amended and gazetted in the 5th March 2012 gazette of India for the distribution of subjects, marks and examination scheme, so as to ensure that the regulations for admission of students to the MD (Hom) course comply with the CCH directions
- Conduct a workshop with experts drawn from each of the seven postgraduate subjects, so as to evolve specific objectives for the subsidiary subjects under each of the major subjects. This would ensure that the relevance of the subsidiary subject for aligning it to the main subject and developing an interdisciplinary study.
- Add the recommendation of workshop after a process of scrutiny and publish it as annexure to the ordinance that is already published.
- For the long term course correction, there has to be national debate with a fair representation of the stakeholders, so as to make –
- situation analysis of both undergraduate and postgraduate homeopathy education in India
- prepare a HR forecast for the homeopathy human resources with state-wise density distribution
- identify areas of postgraduate specialisation for homeopathy keeping in view the national healthy needs and the demonstrated strengths of homeopathy
- distinguish the task analysis for both basic and specialist homeopathic clinician, homeopathy-based researcher and teacher
- design curriculum as per the scientific principles of developing higher education programs
Proto-type of curriculum review for the newly proposed syllabus
As an evidence for the diversity of the same subsidiary subject under different main subjects, an example of Repertory as subsidiary to two different subjects – Homeopathic Philosophy and Homeopathic Materia Medica is provided:
1. Repertory as Subsidiary for Homoeopathic Philosophy
Purpose
To explore the philosophical dimensions of repertory, so as to align the study of repertory with homeopathic philosophy
Goal
The postgraduate scholar of Homoeopathic Philosophy, having chosen Repertory as subsidiary subject, will –
- Recognise the prescription needs of homeopathic practitioners
- Master most of the competencies related to case taking and case analysis, so as to generate totality of symptoms for repertorisation
- Acquire a spirit of scientific enquiry and gain orientation to the principles of research methodology for developing yardsticks for improving the applicability of repertory
General objectives
- Justify the importance of case analysis and symptom analysis for repertorisation
- Practice repertorisation ethically and in step with principles of homeopathy
- Demonstrate sufficient understanding of competencies associated with case taking and case analysis
- Align unprejudiced methodologies in the practice of repertorisation
- Interpret the rubrics of repertories in the light of symptom analysis
- Develop interdisciplinary approach for homeopathic philosophy and repertory
2. Repertory as Subsidiary for Homoeopathic Materia Medica
Purpose
To scrutinise the relevance of repertories in relation to the drug action evidences, so that a comprehensive utility of repertory as a tool for prescription can be measured.
Goal
The postgraduate scholar of Homoeopathic Materia Medica, having chosen Repertory as subsidiary subject, will –
- Demonstrate the prescription needs of homeopathic practitioners
- Master most of the competencies related to case taking and symptom analysis, so as to generate totality of symptoms for repertorisation
- Acquire a spirit of scientific enquiry and gain orientation to the principles of research methodology for developing yardsticks for improving the applicability of repertory
General objectives
- Justify the importance of case taking and symptom analysis to differentiate the similimumm after repertorisation
- Practice repertorisation with the objective of differentiating similar medicines for a group of symptoms
- Demonstrate sufficient understanding of competencies associated with case taking and symptom analysis
- Interpret rubric information with drug action
- Develop interdisciplinary approach for materia medica and repertory
Munir Ahmed R
MD (Hom), MBA (Edn. Mgt)
Domain Expert: Learning and Development for Health Sciences Education
Mob :+919448080577
www.homeopathyeducation.blogspot.com
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