The purpose
of sectoral education is to create avenues for the continuity of that sector.
Homeopathy education is no different in this respect. The current system of
homeopathy education was modelled after the Medical Council of India’s
undergraduate education. This system has maintained status quo for the past
many years. However, there is no record of any serious study to assess the
impact of this course over the years.
An anecdotal
review would reveal the current status of homeopathic practitioners for
practicing homeopathic system of medicine. It is accepted fact that a sizeable
number of homeopathy graduates gravitate away from homeopathic practice;
something that is more notable in certain geographic locations in India. there
are many lamentations in the professional circles, but little concrete measures
to tackle this trend.
One of the
factors that emerges from discussions with newly qualifying graduates is that
there is sufficient knowledge of homeopathy and allied medical disciplines,
appreciable level of clinical skills, but a rather low confidence to practice
homeopathy among the young professionals from the geographic areas referred to
earlier.
It is a
serious identity crisis for any sector that finds its brand suffering low self
esteem among its stakeholders. The solution to this crisis is preparing and
implementing a major rebranding strategy. In this exercise, the strengths of
the product / service has to be highlighted in the light of its relevance to society
and the awareness of its simplicity in application should be created among its
practitioners. Further, newer methods of presenting the product / service to
its beneficiaries should be evolved.
Considering
the above strategy, we need to look at homeopathy in its original form, devoid
of the expectations that were heaped on over the centuries. An objective SWOT
(Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat) analysis of homeopathic practice
would bring out the areas that we need to be focussing on, without being
apologetic about anything. The frontier areas of healthcare services where
homeopathy has strong and decisive role to play should for the core of training
in homeopathic discipline.
We have a
firmly established education system at both undergraduate and postgraduate
levels. To shake it up drastically might prove disastrous for the continuity of
education system. Instead, it is better to experiment with an alternative in
controlled environs and mainstream it gradually. I propose two suggestions for
the experiment. These can be debated for further refinement.
1. To
start ‘Finishing Schools’, that would cater to honing the skills and attitude
of newly qualified homeopathic graduates to provide the much needed confidence
to practice homeopathy. The curriculum can build upon the strengths that are
already acquired during their BHMS course. The content of this course could
include communication skills, marketing skills, improving analytical skills for
clinical decision making, etc. This course could be in the duration of three to
six months. The participants in this course will have some didactic learning in
new areas like business development, social leadership, etc. There could be
clinical case discussions – both in the clinic / ward / community and in the
discussion room. This can improve the clinical decision making skills. It is
also a good idea to run it along with the internship, without affecting the
requirements of CCH / University for completion of the internship program.
There
is a scope for ushering in innovation in homeopathic education. But there has
to be guarded optimism while planning this. The success of this program will
depend on framing of the courses, selection of hubs for training, selection of
the internal and external faculty. If guidelines are framed for transparency of
actions and if they are implemented impartially and rigorously, there is
likelihood of this program succeeding.
