Track 16: Sports Medicine in Health

Traditional general practitioners are becoming fewer in number. The elder generation of general practitioners in places like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Pune are retiring in their 70s and 80s, yet no one is starting new practises in their communities. A large portion of medical care has become divided during the past 50 years into organ-based specialised domains. With the introduction of the “super specialist” and “super specialised hospital” cultures during the past thirty years, this trend has gotten increasingly pronounced in India.

As a result, the community-based family practise sector is still unoccupied and has largely been taken over by quackery and faith healers, while the majority of freshly trained medical graduates spend years in a dysfunctional status waiting and toiling for numerically unachievable PG spots.

What Role Do Family Medicine and Family Doctors Play in the Current Super Specialty Practice Era? Particularly in Light of the General Pressure on Healthcare in India?

Family doctors (FM) and super specialists are more important than ever in the age of super specialised practise. There is no longer a single physician in charge of the entire patient. Since they have to see several healthcare professionals, people frequently find it upsetting when their minor health-related queries are not addressed by the treating doctors. For older people with many health concerns, this is harder. People are looking for solutions that can only be offered by generalist family doctors.

Does the Indian government support family medicine practises and practitioners in the same way that it does in certain other nations?

The Government of India’s National Health Policy highlighted “FM” as a human resource development focus area. However, progress has been made extremely slowly. In addition to the Mehta Committee report, the NRHM task force on human resources in health, and the planning commission’s 12th plan paper on health, which forecasts a need for 15,000 family physicians annually, a number of other government policy documents have discussed the development of FM Training Programs.

Are there any policy choices that demonstrate a desire on the part of governments to include family medicine practitioners in national health programmes?

Yes! The FM Program should be incorporated into the National Health Mission, the Indian government’s health secretary has requested in two letters to the state governments. The Government of India once provided funding for the establishment of the MD/DNB FM Training Program through NRHM. State medical authorities have received funding from NRHM as well for PGDFM training at CMC Vellore.