| Two year PG Diploma in Family Medicine - Distance Education - CMC Vellore |
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| 2 YEAR PG DIPLOMA IN FAMILY MEDICINE - DISTANCE MEDICAL EDUCATION, CHRISTIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE, VELLORE A.P. REGIONAL CENTRE: VIJAY MARIE HOSPITAL |
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| There are close to 2,50,000 General Practitioners in India who have no access to Post-Graduate Education. Since the government has not mandated continuous education for Physicians most of the GP's do not make much effort to remain up to date with the developments in the medical field. The lack of continuous updating of the knowledge and skills by these GP's has led to a situation where there are excessive referrals because they are not confident in handling cases even with the slightest complications. Many patients, therefore, end up visiting multi speciality hospitals where the health care costs are very high. No wonder, in a world Bank study in the year 2004, it was found that the private health care sector was responsible for drawing many below the poverty line. |
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| A "Family Physician" is a multi-competent specialist who not only provides the point of first contact, but also provides the continuum of care. The number of "Family Physicians" - doctors satisfying the above definition. The Indian sub-continent is grossly inadequate to cater to the huge population. |
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| It is with the above scenario in mind that the department of Distance Education (DEDU) of the CMC & H., Vellore started the two year course leading to the Post Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine (PGDFM). The First Batch of candidates started their course in November 2006. |
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| The Objective of the PGDFM programme is to build the capacity of GP's and enable them to manage more cases so that referral becomes less necessary- hence the motto: "Refer Less, Resolve More". |
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| The ultimate beneficiaries of the programme will be patients from the financially weraker section of the population, especially those from the rural and semi urban area, thus, the programme leads to a win - win situation for the patients and the GP's as the former find a one-window solution, while the latter ( who would have become multi competent) find a much larger scope for their practice. |
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| The PGDFM programme is a two year course which has to be completed to a maximum of 4 years. The candidates have to put on 75% attendance during the contact sessions. The curriculum comprises of about 75 problem bases interactive modules covering all specialities. The modules are prepared by highly qualified and experienced faculty and as such are unmatched in quality by any criteria and standards. |
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| Apart from the modules, 70 video lectures are also made available to the candidates during the two year course. |
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| Expert faculty from the CMC will be interacting online with the candidates and answering their queries based on these video lectures at the live tele-conferencing sessions organized during contact programmes at 10 Regional Centers spread over India. |
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| The candidates are required to attend three sessions of contact classes of 10 days each during the months of February, July and November. |
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| All the candidates are assessed through monthly assignments, log books during the contact sessions, theory and ASCE at the end of first year and second year and the project work for the purpose of awarding the P.G. diploma 50% marks in each of the above mentioned category has to be secured for making eligible for PGDFM certificate. |
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| The following is the list of regional study centers for the PGDFM programme:- |
- Christian Medical College and Hospital , Vellore, Tamil Nadu
- Railway Hospital Perambur, Tamil Nadu
- Christian Fellowship Hospital, Tamil Nadu
- Kolencherry Medical College Hospital, Kochin
- Little Flower Hospital & Research Centre, Angamaly, Kerala
- Bangalore Baptist Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka
- Vijay Marie Hospital and Educational Society, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
- St.Stephen's Hospital, Delhi
- Mission of Mercy Hospital, Kolkata
- Baptist Christian Hospital, Tezpur
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| VIJAY MARIE HOSPITAL |
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| As a regional centre of PGDFM course Vijay Marie Hospital is involved in imparting training to about 20 medical graduates every year since the inception of this course in the year 2006, with very well appreciated success rate. |
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| One of our staff member, Dr. Mohammed Ashfaq Ali has been instrumental in establishing this course in our hospital. He is the local distance coordinator and also a faculty member for this course, i.e. PGDFM department of distance medical education CMC, Vellore. |
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| The management of this hospital delegates him for attending various workshops organized by CMC, Vellore at their hospital and campus to update himself and deliver the same to the candidates enrolled at our centre. |
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