Professors say medical students are more interested in securing a PG seat than in practical experience
Professors say medical students are more interested in securing a PG seat than in practical experience
On Wednesday, 800 students from Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai cleared their MBBS fourth-year finals and
joined 3,000 others from the state who can now add the prefix of doctor to their names. But professors say very few of these students know enough to prescribe drugs and even perform simple procedures like drawing blood.
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Moreover, because of Medical Council of India regulations, even simple procedures like inserting a catheter when there are urine retention problems or intra-muscular injections are a mystery to students who are now qualified to practise on real patients," said a professor at Grant Medical College.
What internship?
After passing their exams, students in their final year have to complete a full internship term, but most of the time is spent in preparing for post-graduate examinations. "Ward time has definitely decreased, but it's only because there's so much additional pressure to manage a seat in a college of your preference," said G S Seth Medical College student Anoop Dhamangaonkar who gave his CET exams last month for which he had to prepare for over a year.
"That said, none of my batchmates or I have ever left a patient suffering out of ignorance of basic skills."
Dr Mahendra Kura, secretary of the Maharashtra State Medical Teachers Association, said it is an exaggeration to label students as clueless.
"But 75 per cent of students in the present class will go on to complete their post graduation, thus forcing them to turn to bookish ways. They know practical experience will have no bearing on helping them bag a PG seat and priorities have hence changed."
Can rural internship help?
To partly address the problem of practical experience and to increase facilities in the rural areas, the government had last year proposed to make a year of rural internship mandatory for MBBS students. Vehement opposition has, however, left that decision in the doldrums. "The government is yet to take a decision on rural internships and so there will be no changes in the students' syllabi this year," said Dr Pravin Shingare of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research.
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