New Delhi, August 27: The board of governors (BoG) of the Medical Council of India (MCI) on Thursday asked the medical colleges to introduce a new pandemic management module for undergraduate medical students whose courses are beginning from August 2020. The decision has been taken amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

The forward to the module of the MCI stated, as quoted by Hindustan Times, "This pandemic management module is designed to ensure that the MBBS student acquires competencies in handling not only the illness but also the social, legal and other issues arising from such disease outbreaks." COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Phase II Trial of Oxford Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate to Begin in PGI Chandigarh.

Adding more, the forward stated, "The emergence of COVID-19 and its rapid spread across the globe has further underlined the need to develop these skills in our graduates. One of the desirable outcomes of the competency derived education program is to enable medical graduates to be able to understand, investigate, treat, and prevent new and emerging diseases."

The new module has been compiled by a team of experts and the academic cell of the MCI. According to the details, the new module been arranged in a phase-based manner. The module is expected to be covered by an interdisciplinary team under the supervision of the Institute level curriculum committee.

Apart from covering the disease/epidemic management, intensive care, research, and control. The new module also includes communication with media during a pandemic. Following this new module's launch, both the MBBS and their parents feel that this would better prepare the future generations of doctors for an upcoming pandemic.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 27, 2020 04:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).