Medical students and the National Medical Commission bill: negativity and misinformation combine

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20184224

Keywords:

Medical students, National medical commission bill, Protest, Knowledge, Attitude

Abstract

Background: The National Medical Commission bill (NMC bill) was drafted in response to concerns regarding medical education and healthcare in India. It seeks to reform medical education in India. However, a storm of protests by medical students and doctors erupted after it was tabled in parliament. This study was conducted to determine medical students’ knowledge of, and attitude towards the NMC bill.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students in a private medical college in south India. A tool based on each section of the NMC bill was developed to assess knowledge. Attitude was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale. Separate knowledge and attitude scores were computed. Statistical analyses were performed using EZR (version 1.36). Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, logistic regression analyses were performed.

Results: Only 74 (31.49%) had adequate knowledge of the NMC bill. The major source of information regarding the NMC Bill was social media (191; 81.28%), followed by newspapers (107; 45.53%). Those who were aware of the amendments to the bill; and who received information about the bill from newspapers were significantly more likely to have adequate knowledge. Participation in IMA protest rally was significantly associated with negative attitude; belonging to main (regular) batch was significantly associated with positive attitude towards the bill. Superior knowledge was not associated with positive attitude towards the bill.

Conclusions: Medical students lack knowledge about the NMC bill, but have strong negative attitude towards it. Negative attitude is significantly associated with participation in IMA protest rally against NMC bill.

 

Author Biographies

Liaquat R. Johnson, Department of Community Medicine, Azeezia Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kollam, Kerala, India

Associate Professor,

Department of Community Medicine

Junaida Sulfy, Azeezia Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kollam, Kerala, India

Intern

Lishana Shajahan, Azeezia Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kollam, Kerala, India

Intern

Manirsha P. Vayalil, Azeezia Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kollam, Kerala, India

Intern

Ananthan A. S. Mangalathumannil, Azeezia Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kollam, Kerala, India

Intern

Masoodha M. Palli Thodi, Azeezia Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kollam, Kerala, India

Intern

References

Kothari R. Medical education in India: A need to think differently. Natl Med J India. 2012;25(2):99–100.

Anjali S, Sanjay Z, Bipin B. India’s foreign medical graduates: an opportunity to correct India’s physician shortage. Educ Heal. 2016;29(1):42.

Talwar K, Grover A, Thakur J. Role of Medical Education in Preventing and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases in India? Indian J Community Med. 2011;36(5):63.

Jayakrishnan T, Honhar M, Jolly GP, Abraham J, Jayakrishnan T. Medical Education in India: Time to make some changes. Natl Med J India. 2012;25(3):164–7.

Dasgupta S. Reforms in medical education: Optimizing quantity and quality. Indian J Public Health. 2014;58(1):1.

Das J, Holla A, Das V, Mohanan M, Tabak D, Chan B. In Urban And Rural India, A Standardized Patient Study Showed Low Levels Of Provider Training And Huge Quality Gaps. Health Aff. 2012;31(12):2774–84.

Deo MG. Doctor population ratio for India - the reality. Indian J Med Res. 2013;137(4):632–5.

NITI aayog. A Preliminary Report of the Committee on the Reform of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. 2016.

Ananthakrishnan N. Medical Education in India: Is it still possible to reverse the downhill trend? Natl Med J India. 2010;23(3):156–60.

Sood R, Adkoli BV. Medical Education in India- Problems and Prospects. Journal, Indian Acad Clin Med. 2000;1(3):210–2.

Diwan V, Minj C, Chhari N, De Costa A. Indian medical students in public and private sector medical schools: are motivations and career aspirations different? -- studies from Madhya Pradesh, India. BMC Med Educ. 2013;13(1):127.

Ananthakrishnan N, Shanthi AK. Attempts at regulation of medical education by the MCI: issues of unethical and dubious practices for compliance by medical colleges and some possible solutions. Indian J Med Ethics. 2012;(1):1–8.

Deswal B, Singhal V. Problems of medical education in India. Int J Community Med Public Heal. 2016;3(7):1905–9.

Rao M, Rao KD, Kumar AS, Chatterjee M, Sundararaman T. Human resources for health in India. Lancet. 2011;377(9765):587–98.

Majumdar MAA, D’Souza U, Rahman S. Trends in medical education : challenges and directions for need-based reforms of medical training in south-east asia. Indian J Med Sci. 2004;58(9):369–80.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare G of I. The national medical commission bill, 2017. Lok Sabha; 2017.

Rao N. Bill Summary: The National Medical Commission Bill, 2017. New Delhi; 2018.

Tribune News Service. IMA members hold protest over NMC Bill. The Tribune. 2018. Available at: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/amritsar/ima-members-hold-protest-over-nmc-bill/628412.html. Accessed on 3 July 2018.

PTI. IMA opposes draft National Medical Commission Bill, says it will ‘ cripple ’ profession. The Indian Express. 2017. Available at: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/ima-opposes-draft-national-medical-commission-bill-says-it-will-cripple-profession-4986500/ Accessed on 3 July 2018.

Anand A. IMA calls 3 Lakh medical students for Indefinite Strike against NMC Bill. careers360.com. 2018. Available at: https://news.careers360.com/ ima-calls-3-lakh-medical-students-indefinite-strike-against-nmc-bill. Accessed on 3 July 2018.

Ray K. IMA steps up fight against not-in-sync NMC bill. Deccan Herald. 2018 Jul 30; Available at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/ima-steps-fight-against-not-684386.html

ANI. IMA’s battle against National Medical Council Bill. ANI News. 2018; Available at: https://www.aninews.in/news/health/imas-battle-against-national-medical-council-bill2018 03101522550002/. Accessed on 3 July 2018.

Statesman News Service. IMA meet on Sunday to spread public awareness on NMC Bill ‘ risks.’ The Statesman. 2018. Available at: https://www. thestatesman.com/cities/ima-meet-on-saunday-to-spread-public-awareness-on-nmc-bill-risks-1502607778.html Accessed on 25 March 2018.

Yasmeen A. Medical body opposes NMC Bill. The Hindu. 2018. Available at: https://www.thehindu. com/news/national/medical-body-opposes-nmc- bill/article22597929.ece Accessed on 31 January 2018.

Press Information Bureau G of I. Cabinet approves certain official amendments to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill. New Delhi; 2018: 1–2.

Kanda Y. Investigation of the freely available easy-to-use software ‘EZR’ for medical statistics. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2013;48(3):452–8.

Johnson LR, Karunakaran UD. How to Choose the Appropriate Statistical Test Using the Free Program “Statistics Open For All” (SOFA). Ann Community Heal. 2014;2(2):54–62.

Johnson LR, Karunakaran UD. How to Perform Data Analysis Using the Free Software EZR. Part 1 : Single Continuous Dependent Variable. Ann Community Heal. 2014;3(2):22–5.

Lazer DMJ, Baum MA, Benkler Y, Berinsky AJ, Greenhill KM, Menczer F, et al. The science of fake news. Science. 2018;359(6380):1094–6.

Shin J, Jian L, Driscoll K, Bar F. The diffusion of misinformation on social media: Temporal pattern, message, and source. Comput Human Behav. 2018;83:278–87.

Bessi A. On the statistical properties of viral misinformation in online social media. Phys A Stat Mech its Appl. 2017;469:459–70.

Figueira Á, Oliveira L. The current state of fake news: challenges and opportunities. Procedia Comput Sci. 2017;121:817–25.

Marcon AR, Murdoch B, Caulfield T. Fake news portrayals of stem cells and stem cell research. Regen Med. 2017;12(7):765–75.

Jagannathan. Why The Doctors Fulminating Against NMC Bill Are Wrong And Merely Protecting Their Turf. Swarajya. 2018. Available at: https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/why-the-doctors-fulminating-against-nmc-bill-are-wrong-and-merely-protecting-their-turf Accessed on 3 January 2018.

Johnson LR. Understanding the National Medical Commission Bill 2017 (India) Part 1: Bridge Course. 2018. Available at: https://community medicine4asses.com/2018/01/05/understanding-the-national-medical-commission-bill-2017-india-part-1-bridge-course/. Accessed on 3 July 2018.

Johnson LR. Understanding the National Medical Commission Bill 2017 Part 2: National Licentiate Examination (aka ’NEXT’). 2018. Available at: https://communitymedicine4asses.com/2018/01/14/understanding-the-national-medical-commission-bill-2017-part-2-national-licentiate-examination-aka-next/ Accessed on 3 July 2018.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare G of I. FAQs on NMC Bill. New Delhi: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; 2017: 1–8.

Horne BD, Adali S. This Just In: Fake News Packs a Lot in Title, Uses Simpler, Repetitive Content in Text Body, More Similar to Satire than Real News. arXiv. 2017.

Spinney L. How Facebook, fake news and friends are warping your memory. Nature. 2017 Mar 7;543(7644):168–70. Available at: http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/543168a

De keersmaecker J, Roets A. ‘Fake news’: Incorrect, but hard to correct. The role of cognitive ability on the impact of false information on social impressions. Intelligence. 2017;65(9):107–10.

Downloads

Published

2018-10-25

How to Cite

Johnson, L. R., Sulfy, J., Shajahan, L., Vayalil, M. P., Mangalathumannil, A. A. S., & Palli Thodi, M. M. (2018). Medical students and the National Medical Commission bill: negativity and misinformation combine. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 5(11), 4739–4745. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20184224

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles