Medical colleges are pivotal in providing quality tertiary care to people from across the social strata in India. In Uttar Pradesh, they constitute an integral part of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) that services over 3 crore beneficiaries. To augment service delivery under the scheme and boost the participation of medical colleges in PM-JAY, ACCESS Health—the technical partner for State Agency For Comprehensive Health and Integrated Services (SACHIS), the state health agency implementing the scheme in Uttar Pradesh—has been working towards piloting a model with four premier medical colleges.
Through this pilot, ACCESS Health is facilitating the Continuing Medical Education (CME) of the medical colleges with the aid of private partners. With an aim to build capacities—both for standard treatment guidelines (STGs) under PM-JAY and advanced diagnostics for quality care—two CME workshops have been conducted so far in collaboration with Pathkind Diagnostics Private Limited.
The first workshop was conducted at Maharani Lakshmi Bai Medical College Jhansi, where a session on advanced diagnostics for treating tuberculous was helmed by Pathkind for over 60 doctors from the institute. MRA Medical College in Ambedkar Nagar was chosen for the second workshop that was conducted virtually and saw the participation of close to 40 doctors.
Easing challenges stemming from diagnostic gaps is one of the key objectives of this pilot intervention with medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh, and the CME workshops are a step in that direction. Moreover, the workshops also use real examples from the claims generated by the medical colleges to identify errors and omissions in the adherence of STGs and demonstrate how to avoid them. These hand-holding sessions aim to provide clarity on process-oriented nuances of PM-JAY in order to speed up claim adjudication process and thus the release of payments to the medical colleges.
These two workshops are the first in a series of CME sessions planned by ACCESS Health for the pilot medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh. Continuing Medical Education (CME) for doctors is crucial in ensuring the delivery of high-quality healthcare services. In an ever-evolving medical landscape, healthcare professionals must stay updated with the latest advancements in medical science, treatment guidelines, and diagnostic technologies. CME programs provide doctors with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills, enabling them to provide more effective and evidence-based care to their patients.
Moreover, CME helps bridge any knowledge gaps, ensures standardization in medical practice, and ultimately leads to improved patient outcomes. In the context of initiatives like the one in Uttar Pradesh, CME workshops play a vital role in addressing diagnostic gaps and ensuring that medical colleges adhere to established treatment guidelines, ultimately benefiting both healthcare providers and the patients they serve.
-Meghna Kriplani
Meghna Kriplani currently works as a Documentation and Communication Specialist at ACCESS Health International with a focus on strategic communications, project documentation, and social media strategy.