It’s time to rewrite our medical textbooks

The medical curriculum in India is designed to give comprehensive knowledge of health care delivery with an emphasis on public health. Textbooks form the backbone of its courses and exams at the end of the course are the mode of testing the knowledge acquired.

Until a few years ago, only a few Indian authors wrote and published medical textbooks. Now, numerous books on any subject by Indian authors are available. While this in itself is a welcome change, the quality of the textbooks is questionable. The commercial interests of the publisher and author seem to have overtaken academic rigor. The content is diluted to churn out “preparatory manuals”, “notes” and “… made easy”, all aimed at the survival of the student in exams. Solved university exam papers have also entered the market in medical subjects. Such dubious textbooks could hit at the very roots of medical education in India.

Only clearing exams — which have been reduced to a mere recalling of information– with the help of such textbooks will equip the student with a degree but not with a scientific temper or the ability to conduct research. Adding to the problem is the vastness of medical subjects and the difficulty many students experience in comprehending the language used in western medical literature.

To address this issue, medical colleges in India could regulate the publication of textbooks and encourage publication from professional bodies like the Association of Physicians of India, and others. Chapters written by specialists would be much more instructive than single-author books. The prescriptive nature of the syllabus, which recommends certain textbooks, must also change. This would lead to better and more uniform standards being applied to medical education in India, and would enable the dissemination of medical knowledge appropriate to the Indian context.