National Medical Commission Act 2019: White paper on accelerated implementation of family medicine training programs towards strengthening of primary healthcare in India

Family medicine is the internationally recognized nomenclature for the academic discipline, knowledge domain, and medical specialty of primary care doctors, working in the community setting. Family medicine is defined as a specialty of medicine which is concerned with providing comprehensive care to individuals and families by integrating biomedical, behavioral, and social sciences in the community setting. The distinction of family medicine lies in the tradition of medical generalism, promoting whole person care, in a life cycle mode; providing optimal preventive, promotive, and curative healthcare services in a wide spectrum of setting from home to hospital. In 2016, 92(nd) report of the department-related parliamentary standing committee on health and family welfare on the “Functioning of the Medical Council of India” has emphasized the need for postgraduate in family medicine. The committee report has noted that “the medical education system is designed in a way that the concept of family physicians has been ignored. The committee recommends that the Government of India in coordination with State Governments should establish robust PG Programs in Family Medicine and facilitate introduction of Family Medicine discipline in all medical colleges. This will not only minimize the need for frequent referrals to specialist and decrease the load on tertiary care but also provide continuous healthcare for the individuals and families. The successive National Health Policies of Government of India–NHP 2002 and 2017 have emphasized the need of family medicine training in India. The recently enacted National Medical Commission Act 2019 has mandated NMC to promote training in family medicine at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Therefore, in the background of the stated policies of the Government of India the concept of family doctors, which was earlier neglected should be institutionalized within the mainstream medical education system of India. It is now time to accelerate and upgrade family medicine training and thereby strengthen the concept of comprehensive primary care in India. This white paper presents the review of family medicine training in India and proposes a way forward.