Medical college in India

For introductory information about medical schools and information about medical schools in other countries, see Medical school.

In India, Medical College refers to an educational institution that provides medical education. These institutions may vary from stand-alone colleges that train doctors to conglomerates that offer training related in all aspects of medical care. The term is synonymous with Medical School as used in the USA and some other countries.

Recognition

Indian law requires these type of institutions to be recognized by the Medical Council of India.^[1] The Indian government keeps an updated list of these approved medical colleges.^[2]

Eligibility

Undergraduate courses

Prospective students for an undergraduate course leading towards a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree must have completed a HSC (10+2, or high school) with the Science stream, including the subjects Biology, Chemistry and Physics with at least 50% marks.

Graduate courses

An MBBS degree with registration by the Medical Council of India is the basic requirement for all graduate courses in the field of medicine and surgery. In India, these courses are often referred to as Post-graduate courses as the MBBS confers "graduate" status. In India, students substitute the four year degree customary in the US, (aka the Bachelors degree) with two years of high school coursework (grades 11-12) and immediately start at medical school.

Admission process

In India, there is a competition to qualify for an MBBS seat. Around 1 Million candidates compete for 2000 MBBS seats[citation needed].

Admission criteria differ from one part of the country to another and even from Institution to Institution. In general, admission is based on one of the following:

1. Marks obtained in the final examinations of Std. XII. 2. Donation based seats.

For post graduate courses, rank obtained in an entrance examination forms the basis for admission. Specific institutions may also require a personal interview of the candidate.

The Government of India has allocated a number of seats for students from developing countries where facilities for medical education are either inadequate. The exact number and country-based allocation of these reserved seats may vary annually.

Students seeking admission to the reserved seats are required to apply through the Indian missions abroad or through the diplomatic missions of the respective countries in India. The Indian Embassy or High Commission in a country will be able to provide more information on request. The last date of submission of application is usually the 28th February of the corresponding year. An international student must have completed 12 years of schooling. International students studying in schools in India can apply pending the declaration of their Higher Secondary (10+2) or equivalent examination results. The marks sheet of the examination should be sent within 10 days from the declaration of the result to: Students Cell, Room No. 1009, Ministry of External Affairs, Akbar Bhavan, New Delhi. International students can seek university admission to undergraduate courses in Engineering, Medicine (MBBS) and Dentistry (BDS) in private colleges.^{[citation needed]}

Courses offered

A Medical College offers the basic undergraduate course MBBS. Only institutions offering MBBS course in its curriculum are referred to as a Medical Colleges^{[citation needed]}. The college may teach Post Graduate as well as Paramedical courses

The MBBS course starts with the basic pre-clinical subjects such as biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, microbiology, pathology and pharmacology. The students simultaneously obtain hands-on training in the wards and out-patient departments, where they interact with real patients. The curriculum aims to inculcate good habits of history taking and examination. The student is taught to arrive at a differential diagnosis and to determine what investigations will be useful in a particular case.

Postgraduate courses

All the major colleges also have Postgraduate Degree or Diploma courses in their programmes. The awards conferred are Doctor of Medicine (MD), Master of Surgery (MS) or Diplomate of National Board (DNB)). The MD/ MS degrees are offered by the Universities affiliated to the Medical Council of India and the DNB degree is awarded by the National Board of Examinations, an independent autonomous body under the Ministry of Health, India. They are available in different streams of medical science such as General medicine, General surgery, Orthopaedics, Radiodiagnosis, Radiotherapy, ENT, Ophthalmology, Anaesthesia, Paediatrics, Community medicine, Pathology, Microbiology, Forensic medicine, Pharmacology, Anatomy, etc. Degree courses are of 3 years duration while diploma courses are of 2 years duration. Following post-graduation, students can opt for further sub-specialization in their area of interest by opting for courses called DM or DNB (Doctorate of Medicine), or MCh or DNB (Master of Chirurgery/ Surgery) again of 3 years duration.

An MD or a DNB (general medicine or paediatrics) is the basic requirement for specialization in Cardiology, Nephrology, Neonatology, Gastro-enterology, Neurology except for Clinical Hematology (Pathology or general medicine) etc while an MS or a DNB (general surgery, ENT or Orthopaedic surgery) is the basic requirement for Neurosurgery, Urology, Cardio-thoracic & Vascular Surgery, Gastrointestinal Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Plastic Surgery, etc.

Family Medicine has now become an area of priority in India, and many teaching hospitals offer DNB (Family Medicine).

Post-doctoral fellowship courses in Neuro-radiology, Neuro or Cardiac anesthesiology, etc are offered by select institutions.

Other Health Care courses in India

They include

1. B.A.M.S , Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine & surgery
2. B.Sc, M.Sc Nursing
3. B.Sc Medical Lab Technology
4. B.Pharm, M.Pharm. Ph.d
5. B.P.T, M.P.T, Ph.D (Physiotherapy)
6. [B.D.S], M.D.S [(Dental Surgery)]
7. [B.O.T] [Occupational Therapy]
8. B.Sc. [Speech Therapy]

and many more.

MBBS

Career prospects for a MBBS Graduate are very bright. A MBBS graduate typically starts with Jobs having an approximate remuneration of USD 75,000 per year.

Professionals holding MBBS Degrees are referred to by the title of "Doctor" and use the prefix "Dr".

I (First) MBBS

The pre-clinical course consists of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry,and these are the basic subjects of medical students and it lasts for a year. Prior to 1997 the I MBBS consisted of 1½ years, but this was trimmed to make more time available for clinical exposure. Passing the I MBBS final examination is mandatory to proceed with the course. A candidate failing the first MBBS examination is detained until all the 1st MBBS subjects are cleared. This is considered a major drawback of the Indian medical education system.In many universities if one does not clear a subject that student will get into an intermediate batch. It is a severe drawback. Morning session usually consist of an Anatomy lecture followed by dissection, except for one day when a class in biostatistics may be taken. Afternoon sessions consist of a theory class followed by laboratory work in Physiology or Biochemistry or it may be histology branch of anatomy.

II (Second) MBBS

Pathology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, and Forensic Medicine for one and half years. After clearing all the 4 subjects a student advances to III MBBS. The lecture classes and lab work of these subjects are usually held in the afternoons to enable students to attend the clinical wards and out patient departments in the mornings. These are followed by Short postings (15days duration) in Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Forensic medicine, Skin & Leprosy,& Respiratory medicine & TB. This may be followed directly by major postings or a clinical posting in Community Medicine may intervene.

III (Final) MBBS - Part I

Part I consists of one year, where Social and Preventive Medicine (Community Medicine), Ear Nose and Throat and Ophthalmology form the core subjects.

III (Final) MBBS - Part II

One year of focused training in the four basic clinical subjects, namely: Medicine, Surgery (incl. Orthopaedics), Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology. On passing the final MBBS examination, a candidate is awarded provisional registration by the MCI or the State medical council and can start the internship. Permanent registration (license to practice) and the final Medical degree (i.e., MBBS) is given only after successful and satisfactory completion of the Compulsory Rotatory Resident Internship, also called the CRRI.

Internship

After successful completion of the MBBS course, one has to compulsorily work in the hospital attached to the medical college or in any other approved hospital allowed in some medical colleges, for a period of one year. This posting is called the Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship or the House Surgeon in Tamil Nadu. The student gets the degree only after satisfactory completion of the CRRI. An Intern (also called an Internee or a CRRI) is posted in all the clinical departments of the hospital on a rotation basis. This gives him the basic clinical and practical knowledge about all the disciplines of medicine and makes the medical graduate fit to work in the community as a General Physician.The schedules of an intern is usually extremely exhaustive. For example one may have to work for whole night and then again start the next day duty only after 1 to 2 hour which would last till afternoon.24 hour sleepless duty at a stretch is not uncommon and sometimes the scheduled breaks are also not allowed by the superiors. He/ she is also paid a monthly stipend for his work in the hospital which differs in different medical colleges on the basis of the management. The person is licenced to practice medicine only after completion of this internship. And only after finishing internship, one can receive his MBBS degree and can pursue postgraduate studies.

The Internship is different from House Officership (which may follow Internship), as understood in UK and other countries. The latter is not a compulsory tenure. The House Physician or House Surgeon unlike an Intern, works in a particular department of his or her choice and is paid a monthly 'salary' for his work in the hospital (especially, in the UK). The American counterpart is simply called a "Resident" (i.e., a Resident Physician or a Resident Surgeon).

But in India nevertheless, the Internship or the House Surgeoncy or the House Officership - all are considered to be one-&-the-same. Besides, there is no such term as a "House Physician". This is because, in India, the Doctor who is undergoing higher specialty training following Internship is called a "Post-Graduate student" (i.e., a Medicine PG student or a Surgery PG student).

Responsibility of an intern

The Interns are entrusted with clinical responsibilities under the supervision of a Medical teacher or a Resident/ PG student/ Senior medical officer. They do not work independently. Interns are not supposed to issue medical certificates, death certificates or medico-legal documents under their own signatures.

Postgraduate courses

Subject	Degree	Diploma
Anaesthesia	M.D./DNB	DA
Anatomy:	MD/DNB	Not Applicable
Biochemistry	MD/DNB	Not Applicable
Community Medicine	MD/DNB	Not Applicable
Dermatology	MD/DNB	DDVL/DVD
ENT	MS/DNB	DLO
Family Medicine	MD/DNB	Not applicable
Forensic Medicine	MS/DNB	DFM
General Medicine	MD/DNB	Not applicable
General Surgery	MS/DNB	Not applicable
Microbiology	MD/DNB	Not applicable
Orthopaedics	MS/DNB	D Ortho
Ophthalmology	MS/DNB	DO/DOMS
Obs & Gynaecology	MS/DNB	DGO
Pathology	MD/DNB	DCP
Pharmacology	MD/DNB	Not applicable
Physiology	MD/DNB	Not applicable
Paediatrics	MD/DNB	DCH
Psychiatry	MD/DNB	DPM
Pulmonology	MD/DNB	DTCD
Radiodiagnosis	MD/DNB	DMRD
Radiotherapy	MD/DNB	DMRT

Ranking of medical colleges

There is no centralized system of ranking medical colleges in the country, that is approved by either the central government or the Medical Council of India. A number of newspapers and magazines have conducted surveys in the past, ranking the various colleges on the basis of their facilities, patient load, placements achieved by their alumni and so on. While a number of institutions that are controlled or aided by the Central/ State governments have achieved a sort of Ivy League status (in India), a few privately run institutions also find mention in most of these lists.

Leading Newsweekly Outlook had published ranking of Medical Colleges with the help of MDRA (Marketing & Development Research Associates) in June 2010 which is as follows:

1. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi
2. Armed Forces Medical College, (AFMC), Pune
3. Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore
4. Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Puducherry
5. St. John's Medical College , Bangalore
6. Maulana Azad Medical College, (MAMC), Delhi
7. Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Med Univ , Lucknow
8. Kasturba Medical College, Manipal
9. Grant Medical College, Mumbai
10. Madras Medical College, (MMC), Chennai

India Today released their ranking of Medical Colleges for the year 2008 [1], which is as follows:

1. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi
2. Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore
3. Armed Forces Medical College, (AFMC), Pune
4. Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Puducherry
5. Maulana Azad Medical College, (MAMC), Delhi
6. King Georges Medical College,Lucknow
7. Kasturba Medical College, Manipal
8. Madras Medical College, (MMC), Chennai
9. Seth GS Medical College, Mumbai
10. Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi

For Top 25 ranking and scores please click on the link above.

As per the Doctor NDTV Survey (2007), the ranking of the Medical Colleges in India is as follows (though other surveys may give other ranks):

1. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi (Central Govt.)
2. Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore (Pvt.)
3. Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune (Ministry of Defence)
4. Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Puducherry (Central Govt.)
5. Madras Medical College (MMC), Chennai (State Govt.)
6. St. John's Medical College, Bangalore (Pvt.)
7. Kasturba Medical College, Manipal (Pvt.)
8. Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), Delhi (State Govt.)
9. Stanley Medical College, Chennai (State Govt.)
10. Grant Medical College, Mumbai

See also

• Medical college in India
• Madras Medical College
• Government Medical College, Trivandrum
• Armed Forces Medical College, Pune
• Christian Medical College, Vellore
• Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute
• Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research
• IPGME&R and SSKM Hospital
• Seth GS Medical College
• Madurai Medical College
• Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute
• SRMC
• Stanley Medical College

References

1. ^ Medical Council of India: Home Page
2. ^ STATUS OF MEDICAL COLLEGES FOR ADMISSION FOR THE ACADEMIC SESSION 2007-08

India Today 2008 Rankings [2]

External links

• Medical Colleges approved by the Indian government

• National Board of Examinations