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 31st October 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 –
o
situation
analysis of both undergraduate and postgraduate homeopathy education in India
o
prepare
a HR forecast for the homeopathy human resources with state-wise density
distribution
o
identify
areas of postgraduate specialisation for homeopathy keeping in view the
national healthy needs and the demonstrated strengths of homeopathy
o
distinguish
the task analysis for both basic and specialist homeopathic clinician,
homeopathy-based researcher and teacher
o
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:
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
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 similimum\m 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
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