CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Director of Medical Education to hold the continuing medical education (CME) programme in all government and private medical colleges in the state by including speakers from the LGBTQIA+ community in order to spread awareness among medical students on the issues faced by this marginalised community.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh issued the direction while hearing the petitions relating to the LGBTQIA+ community persons on Monday. The judge emphasized that the order shall be followed in letter and spirit.
The order has come in the wake of a professor of the Madurai Government Medical College creating disturbance at a CME event when a speaker belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community was addressing students.
A petition was filed in the court seeking a direction to hold CME programmes by including LGBTQIA+ speakers in order to ensure inclusive medical care and dispel myths surrounding homosexuality and transgender identities.
It also noted that these community members shall be involved in CME programmes as they have ‘lived experiences’ besides being trained, as these issues are not adequately or accurately covered in the medical curriculum at present.
In another order, the judge directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to bring in conversion therapy within the curriculum for medical education to inform students that such therapy is completely barred and practising it will have serious consequences. “This will raise more awareness among the students,” he said.
The direction was issued after the counsel for NMC submitted that a notification to declare conversion therapy as professional misconduct was incorporated in the 2023 regulations, which is pending with the central government.