raising the bar

Updated on: Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The medical education scene looks promising with the government's proposal to start more medical colleges and the Health Department's focus on strengthening the PHCs.

Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

Exciting career: Great opportunities await medical students in stem cell and gene therapy research.

The past year was eventful for the medical profession. While the government offered around 1,700 seats and introduced more paramedical courses, doctors showed that they could perform transplantations that were until then considered difficult at government-run hospitals.

Until recently the government hospitals were considered the last resort for even the poor. The effort of the State-run hospitals to improve their performance has restored some faith in the system.

Adding to the promising scene is the government's proposal to start more medical colleges and the Health Department's focus on strengthening the primary health centres. Improved working conditions will enthuse more students to take up medicine as a career, say senior doctors.

According to J. Mohanasundaram, Dean, Madras Medical College, a student who gets admitted to one of the new State-run medical colleges should opt for it and not give it up for another course. The facilities are good and the faculty would be available, he reasons. “It is a highly competitive field and only by academic excellence a fortunate few enter a medical college. Compared to what they pay at a private college, the fee in a government college is a pittance. Education is highly subsidised.”

M.K. Vishakadatta, interning at JIPMER, Puducherry, echoes these sentiments but points out that a lot depends on how a student studies.

“There are very few good colleges in the country. So, it is better to get into a government college as you get a preference when you opt for postgraduation, and the fee is low. It is not worth paying more if there is no difference in the education you receive,” he says.

Besides, at government colleges the atmosphere is conducive to study. “Evaluation and question papers are standardised. In colleges which have got deemed university status, it is difficult to know where you stand. But government colleges are under a single university. You have a standard to compare yourself and understand where you will be in future,” Dr. Vishakadatta says.

Senior medical professionals say students looking for a career in medicine are at the threshold of an exciting career, including in research areas such as stem cell and gene therapy.

“With more medical colleges and better working conditions in primary health centres there is a lot of opportunity,” says S. Vinayagam, Director of Medical Education. The government is also looking to private hospitals with specialised infrastructure to train students from its colleges.

In several meetings, Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj has been urging professors in medical colleges to send students to private hospitals for hands-on training in expensive medical equipment.

Dr. Vinayagam concurs with this view. “Private medical hospitals have facilities which are not available in a government hospital. They are showing interest to train our students. We do not have facilities like Pet Scan in government hospitals. Students could be trained in hospitals which have the facility. The idea is wherever there is facility it should be given to the government. We already have a tie-up in one or two fields. That will be extended. We have posted ophthalmology students at Aravind Eye Hospital as part of a student exchange programme. In Coimbatore, we have a gastroenterologist who has done pioneering work in laparoscopy.”

Training is not a one-way process either. The King Institute in Guindy with its specialised laboratory is a training ground for students from private medical colleges also, he says.

A student who wishes to make a mark as a doctor must be prepared to invest in long years of hard work and must be service-oriented. Unlike in other streams, a medical student has to study for five-and-half years. It is their dedicated effort that would see them through, these doctors say.

raising the bar

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