Background Forensic Medicine (FM) is one of the core specialties of medicine in India, which serves as a bridge between medical science and India\'s justice delivery systems. Although FM experts play a crucial role in handling medicolegal cases, there is an increasing deficit of FM experts in India. This may be due to the inadequate postgraduate (PG) seats across the states and the low uptake of PG seats in FM. This study was conducted to explore the current status of PG seats along with the Forensic Medicine Toxicology (FMT)/FM index across Indian states. Methodology In this cross-sectional study, data on the number of PGs in FMT/FM and the institutes offering PG courses in FMT/FM were searched on the official website of the National Medical Commission. The data available on the website until November 2023 were incorporated. The FMT/FM index was calculated at the national and state levels, and the states were graded based on the national FMT/FM index. Results The national FMT/FM PG trainee index was 0.054. Considering this as the reference value, grading of the FMT/FM PG trainee index was done as the highest (1.159 to 0.308), higher than the nation (0.054 but less than 0.308), lower than the nation (0.054 but higher than 0.00), and zero. Among all the states and union territories, Andaman & Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jammu & Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Ladakh had zero FMT/FM PG index due to non-availability of any PG seats for FMT/FM. In total, 20 states had an FMT/FM PG index higher than India\'s FMT/FM PG index headed by Pondicherry (1.159), followed by Chandigarh (0.429) and Goa (0.308). Conclusions PG seats were highly deficient in several states, which is more likely to affect justice delivery in the future across these states. This study has a few limitations, as we did not explore the actual intake of these PG seats across different states. We anticipate a lower intake of PG seats due to factors such as low demand, fewer job opportunities, and monetary gain. However, this needs further exploration in future studies.

Dr. Prakash Chand (PC) Bhatla MBBS was one of the illustrious past presidents (1975-76) of Indian Medical Association (IMA). He was a General Practitioner by vocation and a towering professional leader. He made an immense contribution to the discipline of Family Medicine - the academic discipline, medical specialty, and the knowledge domain of Family Physicians/Family Doctors within India as well as the global level. He was a brilliant human being and professional par excellence. He was probably one of the greatest leaders of the medical profession in India and a rightful successor to Dr BC Roy\'s legacy. As a rare achievement, he received the Dr BC Roy National Award from the President of India twice. He received this prestigious recognition award in 1977 for socio-medical relief in India and again in 1982 for the promotion of Specialty of General Practice. He founded IMA CGP (Indian Medical College of General Practitioners), and his foundational work led to the recognition of Family Medicine as a specialty in India. Due to his efforts, Family Medicine was included in the list of recognized specialties by the National Board of Examinations (NBE) as well by the Medical Council of India (MCI). His contribution to medicine at a global level is also remarkable. He is also considered one of the founding forefathers of WONCA - World Organization of Family Doctors. He was associated with the foundation process of WONCA from the beginning (1964). The International Liaison Committee organized the first World meeting of General Practice in Montreal (Canada) in 1964 and the second meeting in Salsburg in 1966. Dr Bhatla was the convenor of the Third World Conference on General Practice in New Delhi, India, in 1968. A global representative body of Family Medicine/General Practice was launched in 1972 in Melbourne, Australia. Due to contribution to WONCA, he was elected for the first ever WONCA fellowship, the most prestigious global Family Medicine award. He was contemporary to other world leaders of Family Medicine and Primary Care such as Ian McWhinney and Barbara Starfeild. He is rightfully recognized and remembered as Father of Family Medicine. Dr Bhatla\'s intellectual, professional, and administrative contribution laid down the sound background for the foundation of a Specialty body of Family Medicine in India called the Academy of Family Physicians of India. Life and work of Dr PC Bhatla continues to inspire family doctors, family physicians, general practitioners, and Family Medicine specialists across India, South Asia, and the World in the 21st century.

BACKGROUND: District Residency Programme (DRP) was introduced by National Medical Commission as mandatory three-months training program for postgraduate residents. The program was for the first time implemented in April 2023 in Rajasthan. However, it ran into several teething problems, especially for residents. With a lack of any precedence, this study was planned to explore experiences and challenges of residents posted in DRP.
METHODS: Cross-sectional study was conducted at 12 DRP sites attached to SMS Medical College, Jaipur between August-October 2023. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from residents who had completed DRP. Questions were scored on a five-point Likert scale. Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to show association.
RESULTS: Only around 17% residents felt that the learning objectives of DRP were fulfilled and nearly 60% residents felt isolated from academic activities and parent department. Over half of the residents were never posted with their concerned specialty services. Around four-fifth residents felt concerned about safety at least sometimes and more than three-fourth residents were dissatisfied with basic amenities. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests showed significant association of gender and specialisation strata with multiple outcome variables.
CONCLUSIONS: The study finds high degree of dissatisfaction among residents towards learning objectives, academic learning, and basic amenities during DRP. There was also a clear lack of specialty-exposure and high concerns of safety, especially for female residents. The study findings should alarm and inform policymakers and administrators to improve DRP implementation so as to better achieve laid objectives.

Family medicine is the academic discipline, knowledge domain and specialty of family physicians or family doctors globally. Family medicine is rapidly developing in India amidst resistance and criticism. Many opponents identify family medicine as a western concept and argue for its non suitability for implementation in India. Family medicine or family physician is not a new concept for the Indian people. The family doctor concept originated in India from the community-based Vaidya system - an ancient old tradition of the Indian civilisation. A \'Vaidya\' typically refers to a local physician engaging with the population. The Vaidya used to provide personalised care and primary medical care to individuals and families. The Vaidya remained the \'Family Physician\', and this identity and profession has an unbreeched association of more than several millennia with the Indian population. It is to be noted that all the goals of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) training in India, the aspirations, skills and competencies for trainees, as defined by the National Medical Commission (NMC), can be identified as the academic discipline and vocation of family physicians. However, family medicine has not yet been included as a distinct and mandatory subject for MBBS students by the NMC. The demand for personalised health care within the community by the family doctors has never diminished but has only been artificially restricted. Family physicians contribute significantly to the promotion of health, prevention of diseases and the management of various health conditions in the Indian context. We look forward to the integration of family physician and family doctor concepts within the mainstream medical education system. It is expected that family medicine will become part of MBBS curriculum as promulgated in the NMC Act 2019.

About 65.5 % of the Indians live in rural areas while availability of healthcare is biased towards urban setups. Medicine in undergraduates is taught in ivory towers of medical colleges, a paradigm shift in teaching bedside medicine from these ivory towers to community level is required. Hence a new competency-based medical education for undergraduate course was adopted with family adoption program as a vital component, which provides an opportunity for undergraduates to get sensitised to problems and social dynamics at grass root level. We propose an integrated holistic health team model to implement family adoption program so as to address needs of community and build consensus amongst graduate students from various health disciplines to work in integrated team approach and result in enhanced learning. A five pronged strategy is implemented by forming an integrated team comprising of students from medical, aental, ayurveda, and physiotherapy & nursing streams. The institutions that have undergraduate program for any two to five of these disciplines can adopt proposed approach. Expected outcomes of utilising this model is to create holistic health team thereby inculcating in budding graduates team spirit, mutual cooperation & respect for other disciplines of health sciences and thereby holistic healthcare to community.

In 2012, India Today, a news agency, reported that \'Family Physicians are dying silent death\' in India. The number of practicing family physicians is declining rapidly in the most populous country in the world with pressing public health needs. The previous generation of general practitioners/family physicians/family doctors has entered the age group of the seventies and eighties in both urban and rural areas. Unfortunately, no new family physician is opening the practice in these areas. The recent COVID pandemic has clearly demonstrated the ongoing need, demand, and popularity of family physicians among the general public as first-contact dependable and trustworthy doctors. While it may be an enigma why MBBS doctors are no longer opting to become family physicians, to the experts of this domain, it is not a surprise. To outside observers, this phenomenon may appear to be an outcome of changing times, the expansion of medical sciences, new emerging career choices for medical students, or competition within the healthcare market. However, a closer study reveals that the decline of family physician services in India is not a default situation but an outcome of decades of institutional neglect and perhaps a deliberate exclusion. According to the recently released National Medical Commission (NMC) draft curriculum 2023, the undergraduate medical education program is designed with the national goal of creating an \"Indian Medical Graduate\" possessing the requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and responsiveness so that she or he may function appropriately and effectively as a PHYSICIAN OF FIRST CONTACT of the community while being globally relevant. However, we are disappointed to note that the Family Medicine subject (discipline of family physicians) component has been entirely excluded from the draft of the MBBS curriculum. The words such as \'Family medicine\', \'Family Physician\', \'General practitioners\', and \'Family Practice\' have not even been mentioned in the entire 83 pages of the draft MBBS curriculum document. This is not an inadvertent occurrence or a default situation. The erstwhile MCI, the Medical Council of India, played a significant role in diminishing the role of family physicians in the Indian health system. It is to be seen if the NMC is able to reverse this trend by easing the regulatory restrictions on family physicians/family medicine training by including it in the MBBS course.

The National Medical Commission \'Ethics and Medical Registration Board\' (EMRB) proposed \'The registered Medical Practioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations\' 2022 on 23.05.2022 for public opinion. One of the major regulations included Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Guidelines in Chapter 2, Section 5. The main objective of the CPD Guidelines is to upgrade knowledge and skills regularly and ensure compliance with existing guidelines by the Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) under NMC. The drafted CPD guidelines provide a framework for uniform, clear, and structured CPD modules for both in-person conferences and online webinars as well as accreditation. The proposed CPD guideline will ensure adequate up-gradation of knowledge, along with the improved quality of the content of CPD. This article aims to map the trajectory of CPD on its roads from origin to becoming a reality in the Indian scenario as well as identify the challenges and opportunities in implementing CPD in India.

UNASSIGNED: Community engagement in medical education gives the students an insight into the living conditions of the public and how they influence their health. Community Medicine departments accomplish this through field practice and family health studies. The Family Adoption Programme, newly mandated for all medical undergraduate students, brings its own set of challenges and opportunities. The study aims to understand the perceptions of various stakeholders regarding this program.
UNASSIGNED: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted. The faculty, undergraduate and postgraduate students, and field workers were purposively invited to participate. Thematic analysis was done on qualitative inputs obtained by Key Informant Interviews and Focussed Group Discussions.
UNASSIGNED: The participants felt that FAP will provide a good insight into the patient\'s living conditions and also motivate the students for the kind of career they have to prepare for. The major challenges were the lack of transport and logistics in government colleges and the faculty shortage in private colleges. There was a difference of opinion regarding the right time to initiate the student into FAP. Gaining the trust and cooperation of the family and reducing the expectations were also felt important. While more field involvement by faculty was advocated, increased workload and reduced faculty requirement specifications were a matter of concern.
UNASSIGNED: While there was mixed response regarding the utility and long-term sustainability of FAP, it was hoped that with proper motivation and supervision, this program can create a significant difference in medical education and also the lives of adopted families.

Medical education is a systematic process wherein interested and eligible individuals are trained to become physicians/surgeons. It is assumed that a person who completes the Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Medicine (MBBS) degree will be competent enough to perform the duties of a physician of first contact. However, it is not the case with graduates from India. Most MBBS graduates prefer to pursue a postgraduate degree and become unavailable to people or governments. The doctor-to-patient ratio in India (1:1,655) does not currently satisfy the World Health Organization\'s prescribed ratio (1:1,000). The Government of India, therefore, has been taking initiatives to increase the number of MBBS graduates. Moreover, there are several doubts over the quality of medical education and the competency of medical students. In addition, the National Medical Commission, the epic body that regulates the medical education and practice in India, has recently been conducting medical education technology workshops to improve teachers and has devised a new curriculum to elevate the standards of medical education in India. This editorial attempts to provide readers with the current status of medical education and research in India.

System analysis is examination of various elements of a system with a view to ascertain whether the proposed solution to a problem will fit the system and in turn effect an overall improvement in the system. The National Medical Commission (NMC) which was constituted by the act of the Parliament, has brought out minimum requirements for annual MBBS admissions regulations, 2020, which replace minimum requirements published by erstwhile Medical Council of India. The NMC also published new competency-based medical education syllabus for MBBS students with an aim to focus on practical skills. This study brings out the scope of the community medicine (CM) in the present context and as envisaged by the NMC. It also analyzes the infrastructure and workforce required in the department of CM and gives recommendations to improve the system.