1. AN ONLINE RESOURCE
IN PSYCHIATRIC EDUCATION IN INDIA
G.H. Emma Van Hoecke, founder CMEpedia, Tretjakovlaan 6, 1064 PR Amsterdam; emma@cmepedia.net; twitter: @EmmaHoecke
Introduction
The current population of India is estimated at 1.28 billion (1). In 2001, Murali Madhav S (2) estimated the prevalence of all mental disorders in India to be afflicting 65.4
persons per 1000 population. This could mean that there are currently in India about 8.4 million people suffering from a mental disorder. The Canadian Psychiatric
Association (3) calculated that there is one psychiatrist needed for every 8400 people. If a similar ratio were to be applied to India, about 152 380 full-time working
psychiatrists should be available. Jebadurai J (4) estimated in that the total number of psychiatrists could be between 3500 and 5000, which translates in 2015 to one
psychiatrist to 256 000 to 365 000 people. This poster examines the scale of the efforts made to increase the number of psychiatrists in India and the role online CME
can play to assist in this process.
Objectives Materials and Methods
- An inventory of current training requirements and facilities for psychiatrists in India - A literature search
- An estimate of outstanding training needs
Results
- The Indian government prioritized the increase of medical seats in the past years and is planning yearly further extensions.
Psychiatry 40 hrs
Opthalmology 100 hrs
Otorhinolargology 70 hrs
M.B.B.S REQUIREMENTS

2. M.B.B.S. – 5½ years
For the academic year 2015–2016, there are 409 medical colleges teaching M.B.B.S. courses in India.
A total of 49 975 students (5) need to complete 40 hours of teaching in psychiatry (6):
- 25 teaching hours
- 10 hours of tutorials, seminars and integrated teaching
-5 hours of self-directed learning.
Given that this input in education needs to be delivered every academic year and assuming that every college has on an average 122 seats:
- 25 teaching hours x 409 colleges = 10 225 hours
- 10 hours of tutorials etc. x 409 colleges x 3 (group size of 40 students) = 12 270 hours
-5 hours of self-directed learning x 49 975 students = 249 875 hours.
Total hours spent at the M.B.B.S. level on the education of psychiatry per academic year = 272 370 hours.
Thirunavukarasu M et al (7) estimated that the undergraduate medical curriculum devotes only 1.4% of lecture time and 3.8 to 4.1% of internship to psychiatry. To allow
for an increase in the time spent to study psychiatry as well as to reduce the burden on teaching staff, an urgent introduction of quality assured educational modules is
required.
DIPLOMA IN PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE – 2 years
Total seats: 135, offered by 59 colleges (5)
Since 2010, the number of seats for this course has been increased by 11 (8).
The practical requirements for this diploma course were not available online. The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University published an overview (9) which emphasized
a process of modernization of the course curriculum since 2003. The current curriculum requires the submission of three papers with regards to the basic sciences
related to psychiatry, clinical psychiatry including recent advances, and specialties in psychiatry.

3. M.D. IN PSYCHIATRY – 3 years
The website of the Medical Council of India (MCI) did not offer a national overview of the number of seats. Minglebox (10) published a list of 100 institutes in India
which offer an M.D. degree in psychiatry. The non-teaching hospitals mentioned in the MCI website offered only 8 seats in 2002 (5). In 2010, Sharma S (8) reported a
capacity of 266 seats for M.D. in Psychiatry in 112 medical colleges. To maintain a satisfactory student to teacher ratio, historically one M.D. student per teacher was
allocated. In 2010, this ratio was changed to 2 students per teacher.
PSYCHIATRISTSin INDIA
In 2006, the Indian Psychiatric Association had 2829 members (11), including NRIs. In 2010, Thirunavukarasu M et al (7) estimated the average national deficit of
psychiatrists to be 77%. More than one third of the population has more than 90% deficit of psychiatrists. The number of psychiatrists even in Indian metropolitan cities
is limited. Practo (12), a popular health practitioner directory, in its September 2015 issue records only 324 psychiatrists registered in Bengaluru for a population of 10.83
million (13). Gradually, the requirements for re-registration are being formulated for psychiatrists as well, generating a need for continuing medical education.
Conclusions
- The current number of psychiatrists in India, which is estimated between 3500 and 5000, falls short by a factor 30–43 according to the Canadian definition of
psychiatrist to population ratio to fulfil the mental health needs of its expanding population. A steep increase in the training capacity at every level is required.
- The yearly increase of medical seats, though applaudable, creates a burden on the teaching staff. A balanced approach needs to be adopted between essential face-to-face
teaching and necessary skills development training which can be offered online. Thus, the development of innovative and effective competencies-based training is urgently
required, as envisaged by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) in 2005 (14).
- CMEpedia is an online educational platform that allows for the re-distribution of non-sponsored accredited CME modules for free or at a fair rate to medical students
and health professionals in developing countries such as India to give them similar access to educational tools as their counterparts in developed countries.
- CMEpedia aims to become the generic distributor of quality assured educational content.
- CMEpedia invites content providers to contribute on www.cmepedia.net, especially in the field of psychiatry as the need for distribution of quality assured content
becomes even more pressing over time.
References
1. http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/india-current-population. Indian Journal of Community Medicine (accessed on 16 September 2015)
2. Murali Madhav S. Epidemiological Study of Prevalence of Mental Disorders in India, Vol. 26, No. 4 (2001-10 - 2001-12)html

4. 3. http://www.cpa-apc.org/browse/documents/20 (accessed on 16 September 2015)
4. Jebadurai J. in his blog on http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/discoverpsychiatry/overseasblogs/india/onepsychiatristper200,000.aspx (accessed on 16 September 2015)
5. http://mciindia.org/InformationDesk/ForStudents/ListofCollegesTeachingMBBS.aspx (accessed on 16 September 2015)
6. http://www.mciindia.org/Rules-and-Regulation/GME_REGULATIONS.pdf (accessed on 16 September 2015)
7. Thirunavukarasu M.,Thirunavukarasu P. Training and National Deficits of psychiatrists in India. Indian J Psychiatry, 2010; 52: 83–8.
8. Sharma S. Indian J Psychiatry, 2010 Jan;52 (Suppl1): S89–94.
9. http://web.tnmgrmu.ac.in/index.php/library/488-navigation-block-4/library/virtuallibrary-equestions/equestion-medical/708 (accessed on 16 September 2015)
10. http://www.minglebox.com/medical/courses/psychology-and-mental-health/pg-md-psychiatry4. (accessed on 16 September 2015)
11. S. Mamta et al., Women in psychiatry: A view from the Indian subcontinent. Indian J Psychiatry, 2009 Jul–Sep; 51 (3):199–201
12. https://www.practo.com/bangalore/psychiatrist (accessed on 16 September 2015)
13. http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/bangalore-population.html (accessed on 16 September 2015)
14. Psychiatric Training Atlas Psychiatric Education and Training across the world, 2005, WHO, Geneva. ISBN 92 4 156307 9.