Medical education needs to change in Pakistan

The economic crisis in the last few years has reduced the role of government in social development and transferred it to the private sector. These changes have affected medical education too. Lack of resources has created a situation where outdated equipment and educational methods produce medical graduates with outdated knowledge, skills and attitudes. Students' are understandably frustrated when they discover that their long journey through medical school has yielded knowledge that does not match the requirements of their profession. Failure to structure criterion for proper selection of students and societal needs has resulted in indiscriminate admittance of thousands of students, causing many dropouts in the first two years and, eventually, ill-prepared medical doctors. Clearly, medical teachers are feeling the pressure to adapt to changes in the health care system while maintaining excellence in education. The question in their minds is; how can we change our medical education programme to meet the society's need? This paper suggests certain changes which could be considered as the first step at the beginning of a long journey.