The fully equipped physician: An ancient Indian competency framework

OBJECTIVE: There has been an observable trend towards developing medical competency frameworks across the globe. These competency frameworks are intended to improve societal trust in the medical education system in developing appropriately competent medical practitioners. A framework developed by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons; Canada has been widely accepted by several institutions across the world. Medical Council of India has also published a similar framework of medical competencies. Most of these frameworks does not consider ancient Indian frameworks which have existed for several thousand years. Current paper examines the medical competency frameworks from ancient India and compares it with current frameworks. METHOD: A review of literature available in reputable libraries and online on the medical competency framework from ancient India has been attempted. Key words including ‘competency framework, medical framework, ancient India and fully equipped physician’ were used. RESULTS: A medical competency framework was written and implemented more than two thousand years ago. The framework identified key competencies including: Medical expertise, Communication skills, Scholar, Health advocacy and Professionalism. This framework was used for medical practitioners at the time and used during the training and subsequent medical practice. CONCLUSION: There is striking similarity between ancient Indian and current model of competency framework. Teachings and wisdom from ancient India can prove invaluable while developing future medical competency frameworks.