Medical Education in Russia, Ukraine, China etc. far from good: Dr Deepa Sunil Nadkarni

Thanks to the Russian invasion over neighbouring Ukraine and last-minute efforts to bring the stranded Indian medical students back home has given rise to a sequel of worrisome factors related to medical education abroad. Initially, big blame was put on the system here where even meritorious students scoring 97 per cent in the +12 standard fail to get a seat while foreign universities were lauded for imparting medical courses at a quarter of the expenditure.

Only a negligible per cent of foreign medical graduates qualify: The more you try to peep in, the issue looks like becoming more perplexed. Contrary to what was being proclaimed in public, your marks in PUC alone don’t matter for a medical seat. Earlier your marks in the CET at the state level mattered while the same has paved the way to NEET at the national level now. Apart from that, according to the statistics available from the official sources, only 20 per cent of foreign medical graduates qualify back home!

Medical counselling free of cost: Dr Deepa Sunil Nadkarni is a general medical practitioner based out of Ankleshwar in the Bharuch district of Gujarat and a good friend. An alumnus of the prestigious Bombay Medical College, she moved over to Ankaleshwar with hubby Sunil Nadkarni. She has been practising there for a few decades and is a household name in and around Ankleshwar. But the interesting fact is not her roaring practice. She visits the neighbouring villages on the banks of the mighty Narmada River for voluntary service. She takes pride in doing the medical counselling free of cost and derives pleasure in doing so.

Admission system most corrupt, regressive: When persuaded repeatedly, she obliged to air her viewpoints about the present ongoings: “Well, if you ask me, it's sad that our admission system is one of the most corrupt and regressive. But blaming it for what happened to their son is something I find hard to digest, though my heart goes out to them for the irreparable loss that has been thrust on them…

…Discourage parents of a lot of kids: …Parents of a lot of kids aspiring to be doctors come to me for advice especially to know about my opinion regarding medical education in countries like Russia, Ukraine, China etc and I always try to discourage them for a variety of reasons”, says Dr Deepa Sunil Nadkarni.

Too poor quality of medical education: Dr Deepa Sunil Nadkarni puts forth several valid reasons for not encouraging medical seat aspirants with a fancy of going abroad. Some of the strong points she wishes to make on this aspect are as follows:

1) The quality of medical education in these countries is far from good.

2) Passing the local exam to qualify for practice in India hence becomes difficult

3) A lot of them practice as MDs when actually their degrees are at par with MBBS. Only, the degree there is called MD

4) Because of this, most of them face a step-motherly attitude from their contemporaries and medical associations.

Faulty admission system the main culprit: Dr Deepa Sunil Nadkarni laments at the plight of medical aspirants going abroad for not getting admission here even after scoring well in the concerned classes. She says: “It's sad that bright and deserving students miss out on medical seats on account of the faulty admission system. We as parents have experienced this; however, this was never the option. I always tell students to have a backup plan ready because let's face it. Only three types of students can get into medicine in India, the very very bright, the very very rich or the reserved categories”.

Dr Deepa Sunil Nadkarni

Disease patterns are completely different: “The disease patterns in these countries is so different compared to the patterns that we see in India owing to the climate difference that the students have very minimal practical exposure to tropical diseases. Also, a wrong picture is being painted about medical education as if that's the only branch where pupils are being victimized by the admission system”, she regrets.

Caste-based admissions should be abolished: Dr Deepa Sunil Nadkarni vehemently proposes: “The caste system for admissions to any course should be totally abolished. It’s a curse that's coming in the way of the country's progress but we have politicians and leaders who encourage this for their selfish motive. And you see all this hue and cry about the faulty admission system will eventually become silent with time like all other burning issues”.

-Manohar Yadavatti