What is it about?
National health workforces lack at least 6·4 million physicians, the largest shortage being in low-income countries. Medical schools in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) must be adapted to the needs of society. This very difficult task must be accomplished if we aim to have good physicians and surgeons able to diagnose and treat the population of LMICs in the years to come. To reach this most important objective, public medical schools are essential. I have examined which aspects the medical curriculum must focus on, the need for faculty balance between teaching, clinical work and research, for serious assessments and for proper selection of students, and the role of digital competencies and artificial intelligence.
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Why is it important?
The reputation of a medical school must be based on the validity of the physicians that come out of it. To have good physicians and surgeons in the very countries that need them most, the quality of medical education must be higher than it currently is.
Perspectives
Public medical schools need bold and innovative leaders who steer their institutions toward genuine scholarship and are conscious of the huge importance for any LMIC of having good and competent doctors. Medical education must be innovated but this process must not neglect its foundational principles.
Professor Sandro Vento
Manash Kozybayev North Kazakhstan University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Medical education in low- and middle-income countries must be innovated without neglecting its foundational principles, Frontiers in Medicine, June 2026, Frontiers,
DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2026.1843757.
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