Ten years of MRCGP International South Asia: a beacon of excellence

South Asia is home to a quarter of the world’s population yet the health outcome indicators for the region are in a poor state. A great majority of patients receive care in private community settings from GPs who have not received postgraduate training in family medicine. Quackery,1 the practice of unqualified practitioners posing as qualified doctors and treating patients, is still prevalent in the poorer areas of cities and villages. It has been long recognised that, for a great majority of GPs in the South Asia region (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal), there are limited opportunities to gain a postgraduate qualification in their chosen specialty of family medicine/general practice. This lack of progress in training GPs has persisted in these countries in spite of gaining independence from colonial rule almost 70 years ago. Many specialists work as GPs in the evening in the private sector without having any training as a generalist. As a result, many GPs, despite the desire to improve their competencies in general practice, start practising in the community after completion of their undergraduate education without any further enhancement of knowledge and skills. Iona Heath, ex-President of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), visited the Aga Khan University …