The Medical Education in India
The history of Indian medical education goes back to thousands of years. In ancient time, the medicine was practiced orally by the experts who included sages and saints too. It was more of an ayurvedic medical practice as various herbs and shrubs were used as medicine against different illness. As the mankind expanded the needs increased, competition increased leading to various innovations. Eventually medicine became one of the main fields where there were continuous new findings which definitely benefitted the mankind.
Though there were lots of unrecognized places for teaching medicine earlier, the first medical college was set up officially in Calicut, Kerala. World was witnessing the bitter World War II then. It could be related to the fact that, the British wanted trained doctors to deal with the war victims time and again. The shortage of skilled doctors forced the British to open another college at Madras and the Madras Medical College in Malabar. The management of these colleges was made central.
After India attained its freedom in the year 1947, the management of these medical colleges was localized with each State Government. The technical and postgraduate studies however still remained with the Central Government.
The center has set up a Medical Council of India which puts up the guidelines for medical education in India. As per the rules set up by MCI, the Indian medical colleges will teach basic science for one year, para-clinical sciences for the next 1 ½ year. The next two years will be spent only to learn clinical subject. Education experts still feel the medical education in India is more of a theoretical approach. There is no much concentration given to the practical exposure to the students. There is a need to bring together basic sciences and clinical disciplines for an accurate and more efficient medical education in India.
Like Engineering, the admission for medical colleges mainly depends on the candidate’s performance in the Common Entrance Test (CET). The MBBS study is for 4 years and six months, after which the successful candidates can use the prefix Dr. to their names. However there is a lot of demand for the higher studies as the availability of the trained doctors is less. There are quite a few top medical colleges in India, which are capable of providing higher educations like BDS, MDS, MS, etc. A reputed college is believed to be well – equipped to impart a high quality medical education to prepare the efficient doctors that the society is need of. These colleges allow the students to choose para-medical and medical courses in the undergraduate and post graduate level respectively. Even Nursing is a part of the medical education globally and in India too there are good nursing colleges producing top class nurses.
The candidates who are successful in their 10+2 studies are eligible to apply at the top medical colleges. Both the 10+2 performance and the CET results are important for a student to get into any prestigious medical college. The students after completing their MBBS studies must compulsorily go through a residential internship program for one year.
All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, Lady Harding Medical College, Delhi, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi are some of the top Medical Colleges in India.
