Fellowship in Family Medicine

About the Course

“There are 57 different specialists to diagnose and treat 57 different varieties of diseases, but no physician to take care of the patient” – so very aptly said by one physician, when asked to comment on the decline in the number of family doctors. Changing trend towards specialization has fragmented the patient care today so much that it has weakened the patient-physician relationship and thereupon the public outcry over the fragmented medical care gave re-birth to the dying speciality of ‘Family Medicine’. Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization endorses Primary care as our best hope for the future. Family doctors are our “Rising stars for the future”.
Propelled by such emphatic endorsement of the concepts of primary care by the World Health Organisation, IMA eVarsity Courses is launching its flagship course, the two-year Diploma in Family Medicine, with the combined experiences of IMA eVarsity running the course in ‘chalk and board’ distance education for nearly a decade or so and MEdRC nearly 2 decades into the field of virtual education.
General practitioners of today are not in the mold of a typical family physician. Though they see a large variety of problems that affect the population, they are generally ill-equipped to manage them. IMA eVarsity shall impart general practitioners of today with necessary disease management skills through scientifically-designed, pedagogically-grounded courses, with experiential learning forming the fulcrum.
The IMA eVarsity courses are a rich amalgamation of the best models of education in the contemporary scene, comprising online study blended with webcasting and mannequin-based as well as bedside clinical trainings. They take off from the famed competency assessment tool of Case-based discussion, as promoted by reputed Universities from across the globe in carving out family physicians.
The course if affiliated to Martin Luther Christian University – MLCU, a premier university from Shillong, doing yeoman service in the field of education in the North-east sector. MLCU is a UGC approved university.

Career Prospects

The primary objective of this course is to metamorphose general practitioners to family physicians by training them on the art of treating the human being and not just the patient. The long-forgotten art of ‘communicating’ with the patient is the main edifice on which this course is built. It starts with and immerses the doctor into listening more than talking, ‘touching’ more than examining and ‘feeling’ more than tackling! While doing so, it imparts career enhancing skills empowering him to function as a Consultant Family Physician, enabling him to render health services to the community and to take timely decisions for referral to provide secondary/ tertiary health services whenever needed.

Recommended Background / Entry Requirements

Recognised the need of the hour, of turning graduate doctors into family physicians, who thrive on building relationship with the patients and family, rather than treat them as numbers, IMA eVarsity has specially crafted these courses for experienced practising doctors – doctors who could not take up post graduation for whatever reason, doctors who are so busy with their practice that they do not find time to attend continuous medical education. These courses are made available for the MCI-registered doctors.