Edtech Companies Helping To Reimagine Medical Education: Gerald Jaideep

How digitalisation advancement has in healthcare has powered online medical training in India? 

Rapid digitalisation and large scale tech adoption in healthcare have made it possible to make learning accessible and affordable. It is encouraging to see that government’s initiatives such as Digital India and National Health Mission are transforming the health ecosystem in the country. At this juncture, the use of new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), etc. are facilitating easy access to high quality digital learning solutions and learning programs for healthcare professionals for their skilling, upskilling and re-skilling.   

How has medical education and its scope for healthcare professionals and aspirants changed since the pandemic? 

Pandemic-induced disruptions were felt across sectors and medical education wasn’t untouched by it.  Movement restrictions and adherence to Covid guidelines accelerated the development of an online learning environment to facilitate medical training. The switch to hybrid learning model (physical and online) is helping to meet the rising demand for healthcare professionals across the country. Students are trying to balance the impact on their academic trajectories caused by the pandemic and this has necessitated adopting new avenues especially in online health education.  

What are some new avenues that the healthcare edtech companies are bringing into the medical training space?

Today edtech companies are helping to reimagine medical education with versatile blended learning programs for medical students and healthcare professionals. These include both online and physical training. In addition, these companies collaborate with medical institutions and hospitals to give training support. Along with constant collaboration with medical institutions, Medvarsity online is also expanding students and alumni network and partnering with organisations such as FICCI and NATHEALTH.  

Since a lot of medical training also requires physical training, how does Medvarsity encapsulate the practical training?

Being Asia’s largest healthcare edtech platform, we offer both online and blended learning programs in the form of fellowship, post graduate and certificate courses across 20 medical specialties including healthcare management and healthcare quality.  As physical training is very critical for healthcare professionals, we have dedicated physical training programs in partnerships with leading fertility clinics and hospitals across major Indian cities. These programs allow professionals to understand and apply their knowledge in real-world settings. 

Are there any challenges that the healthcare edtech platforms are facing in India?

In less than ten years, the Indian educational system has advanced from using traditional pedagogy to digital learning. The education sector has seen a tremendous growth in the number of edtech startups.  Also, the foremost authority on medical education in India, the Medical Council of India (MCI), and the recently reinstated National Medical Commission (NMC) too have acknowledged the value of online education. 

However, it is noteworthy that the healthcare edtech platforms in India have varied scenarios when it comes to medical education. As e-learning was not the mainstay of medical education, it presents a difficulty for students and faculty members to fully utilise electronic learning tools which were hardly ever used before.  Lack of technological skills is a major difficulty in online teaching.  The students are finding it difficult to acquire crucial clinical skills. However, the edtech platforms are working to offer essential solutions to these problems. 

What are the future growth prospects of healthcare edtech platforms in India?

To accelerate economic growth and social development, India needs to concentrate on improving the skills and knowledge of its populace. In terms of demographics, the country is in a good place and has a great chance to supply skilled labourers and cater to the needs of global workforce. However, only 2 per cent of India's overall labour force currently has any kind of skill training. Three-fourths of young people in the nation have never signed up for a programme to develop their skills. The significant lack of qualified personnel in the medical stream, including physicians, nurses, paramedics, and basic healthcare workers, continues to be one of India's most serious concerns. 

These issues will be resolved with the entry of more healthcare edtech platforms in India.  Moreover, ‘MedEdTech’ can provide a perfect learning environment because the curriculum is tailored to lessons incorporating contemporary medical procedures. Difficulties like obtaining additional education in medial industry and upgrading skills can also be addressed by these platforms. 

What are the future plans of Medvarsity, are there any collaboration or new products in the pipeline?

Medvarsity has spread its wings to the Middle East to enable healthcare practitioners to pace their careers by gaining knowledge of the latest medical advancements. Recently, Medvarsity has introduced Assimilate, a video platform that curates cutting-edge conversations across diverse medical specialties across the global healthcare ecosystem.  

It is imperative that doctors stay up-to-date with the latest research to clinical guidelines in the medical field. This helps them implement the advanced treatment guidelines into practice. Dosily by Medvarsity is a recent initiative that provides access to the world’s leading medical books and journals. As a part of this, we have partnered with the world’s leading publishers Mc-Graw Hill and Wolters Kluwer to provide our learners access to the latest news, videos, case studies, research data and patient materials. This is crucial for physicians to stay ahead of their peers in medical advancements that cater to the delivery of superior patient care.