A NEW INDEPENDENCE

A NEW INDEPENDENCE:
The Specialty of Emergency Medicine Officially Recognised in India!

Today is the day when we got independence from British Empire sixty two years back. We were independent with new dreams, hope and targets. The specialty of Emergency Medicine is celebrating this independence day in similar fashion which our forefathers celebrated in the midnight of 15th August 1947.

Let me begin with comments from Prof. Suresh David, MS, FACEM Department of Accident & Emergency Medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.

“Today at 0100 hours, I inscribe a new sentence on the milestone of our specialty in India…. The Medical Council of India has recognized the Specialty of Emergency Medicine! This is the beginning of a new era.”

This clearly ethos the amount of enthusiasm we have in EM community in India at present. But there are also a growing concern in certain EM groups in India about the status of EM courses which are run with Foreign Universities and courses recognised by Indian Universities at certain medical colleges. There are also funny criticisms reflecting on their comments on Foreign faculties who come to India and teach EM bedside. People are so fanatic that they have condemned these efforts by labelling the as inappropriate EM.
(BECOZ LACK OF INDIAN ACUMEN!!!!)

This is an absolute disregard to the people who had shown courage to learn Emergency medicine in an era where there were no recognition for the specialty and the people who worked relentlessly despite criticism. This is also an embarrassment for those who came to India to teach EM from other countries out of their sheer interest in the specialty.

We should realise that we are not born with an EM gene which can auto express our credibilities of Emergency Medicine after working in INDIAN ED for couple of years. We should learn first the tips and tricks of Emergency medicine form people abroad who has aquired EM specific acumen in a standardised care pathway and the try to indianise it.
For this simple reason several institutes in India has tied up with US Universities ( Including AIIMS who have tied up with University of South Florida for similar reasons ) just to get the acumen right from the beginning.

India has been exploited enough in the name of introducing EM course in the country just by conducting Exams at the end of the term without any direct supervision during the entire curriculum. Similarly it has to be recognised that in countries like United States certain specialties have grandfathered Emergency Medicine in the beginning until EM had their own faculty base. Thus we need to realise two things very clearly

1. The specialty of Emergency Medicine in India will develop with inputs and dedication from EM faculties outside India and faculties of other specialties in India who have sheer goal to up bring us.
2. The model of EM exams and certification will not survive in future without proper training and onsite supervision.

Today in the context of Independence Day we would like to inform those pseudo patriots that EM in India will develop to serve Indians and not to encourage brain drain ( For Jobs abroad……. ) and it will develop with the help of all individuals (regardless of their country of origin) who have an acumen of Emergency Medicine.