An overview of education and training of medical informatics in India

Medical Informatics in India is still in its infancy. Although the Indian Association for Medical Informatics (IAMI) was founded in 1993, proposed by major healthcare delivery institutions, the absence of independent career options in medical informatics in India has resulted either in the exodus of the needed faculty members for supporting education in the field. However, this situation may have been changing in the past few years, but a large gap exists which needs to be filled up quickly. The purpose of this report is to provide an assessment of the present situation of research and training in medical informatics in India, and its implications for future development of the field.

To assess the current situation regarding the opportunities for research and education in Medical Informatics in India and related issues like availability of career options.

A survey questionnaire was sent by postal mail to well-known Indian institutions engaged in medical informatics training and research. In addition, key stakeholders working towards imparting education and awareness on the principles and practice of medical informatics were contacted to provide information about training and research in medical informatics in India. This was a purposive sampling based on prior knowledge. The responses were thematically analyzed.

A total of six courses were identified in the survey. These were administered through face to face (F2F), e-learning and other modes of distance learning. In general, most of the students are graduates in medicine (allopathic, homeopathic, ayurvedic), allied sciences (nursing, physiotherapy) and medical administrators or graduates in engineering or library and information sciences. Most of them are also working, thus, the majority of the courses are for part-timers and act as on-job value addition. Most of the courses however do not directly train for jobs. Therefore, as most of the participants are already working somewhere, the question of placement due to the course may not be measurable directly. Since most of the students from India are already employed, by attending this course they gain further insights into health informatics that they want to pursue as a career.