Family Medicine – Future Directions

Abstract

A family medicine is the branch of medicine which has a low awareness, and this leads to a smaller number of young doctors pursue this branch as their preferred post-graduation. A family practitioner is different from a general physician as they are trained in an integrated curriculum which comprises of medicine, surgery with allied sciences, maternal and child health and basic sciences and community health.The National Board of Examinations conducts family medicine residency programmes at the teaching hospitals that it accredits. On successful completion of a three year residency, candidates are awarded Diplomat of National Board. The government hospital at Calicut started their MD in family medicine in the year 2011, after which many of the national and private hospitals have stated their courses in the field of family medicine. The government of India has declared Family Medicine as focus area of human resource development in health sector in the National Health Policy 2002. There is discussion ongoing to employ multi skilled doctors with DNB family medicine qualification against specialty posts in many of the rural health set up of India.There are visible barriers that hinders the growth of family medicine in India. These barriers require immediate attention from medical education regulators. Not taking into account for these barriers would hinder the growth of the branch of Family medicine in India