Doctors India

Reservations-The Impact

2007-02-18T18:32:00.000+05:30

Well, the only exam which was bereft of any short cuts based on race, religion or sex for the post graduation studies for the doctors in IndiaThe All India Post Graduate Entrance Exam, has just been added to the long list of entrance exams which are plagued by reservations in this country.
What does this mean?Around 800 more deserving candidates willl make way for the reserved category who are way below them in the merit list to claim their stake.To cite an example, an aspirant with a rank of around 1500 who should ideally walk in on around the eighth day to pick his seat, will now hold back 22 of the first hundred rank holders and walk in on the first day. and another guy with a rank of aroujnd 15000 which usually does n t fetch you a seat as there are only 3000 seats will now get a seat somewhere in the top half of the coveted seats.
So what, did u say?Medicine is an essential science. Probably one of the only sciences which relies heavily on one person's ability to keenly assess a situation, in this case a patient,put to use his clinical acumen, draw from the experience gained by previous exposures and formulate a confident treatment plan for a patient.Because each patient is unique and the diseases many and the manifestations myriad.Because frustrated doctors with unfulfilled dreams who settle for less, invariably go on to become the money squeezing demons stereotyped in bollywood movies. There by making proper allopathy medicine unaffordable to even the middle class of India , driving them to the local pharmacists who play the doctor dispensing drugs without knowing the side effects , the indiacations or the contraindications for the same.Because they are easier st
reams like engineering to make it big early in life in terms of earning ability and time for one self.Because medicine is a science where much is learnt from working under able doctors and knowledge is mostly handed down by word of mouth rather than by the voluminous books the stream is known for.
Today's students are tomorrow's teachers.So a small fall in the merit order will be amplified manifold in another two generations leadi9ng on to a overall fall in quality of medical management.Because, in medicine, mistakes cost lives.

OBC s- Do we understand what are they?

2006-05-21T10:34:00.000+05:30

The concept of OBC dates back to 1902 when Chatrapati Sahu ji Maharaj, Maharaja of Kolhapur in Maharashtra introduced 50% reservations in favor of backward classes, But the term OBC was introduced by the first backward class commission headed by kaka kalelkar on Jan, 29th 1953, based on the estimated population & distribution, traditional profession, literacy percentage and general advancement in general. After the failure of Kaka kalelkar commission, the government of India appointed the second backward class commission 0n Jan, 1st 1979 popularly known as ‘Mandal commission’ under article 340 of Indian constitution. The term OBC was defined by this commission based on 11 criteria which indicates social and educational backwardness constituted 52%(Based on the census of 1931) of the total population (excluding SCs and STs), belonging to 3,743 different castes and communities. What were those criteria? Let’s dissect them.
Social
• Castes/classes considered as socially backward by others.
Can any criterion be as productive as this one? It includes everything and nothing simultaneously literally leading to the inclusion of the castes and sub caste based on some lunatic’s myopic judgments. Who are ‘others’ here? Americans, British or probably aliens from Krypton.

• Castes/classes which mainly depend on manual labor for their livelihood.
Is it a report or Sunday horoscope with a liberal dose of generalizations, gives us a pseudo sense of security but at the end its bull crap. Can you please specify what percentage constitutes ‘mainly’ and what type of manual labor?
• Castes/classes where the percentage of married women below 17 is 25% above the state average in rural areas and 10% in urban areas; and that of married men is 10% and 5% above the state average in rural and urban areas respectively.
Some specificity at last but all this criteria were made 26 years back with statistics used from the census of 1931.
• Castes/classes where participation of females in work is at least 25% above the state average.
Ironically it might represent the female empowerment also. Are these criteria relevant in the present times?
Educational
• Castes/classes where the number of children in the age group of 5 to 15 years who never attended school is at least 25% above the state average.

• Castes/classes amongst whom the proportion of matriculates is at least 25% below the state average
• Castes/classes where the rate of student drop-out in the age group of 5-15 years is at least 25% above the state average
.
Economic
• Castes/classes where the average value of family assets is at least 25% below the state average.
• Castes/classes where the number of families living in kachcha houses is at least 25 % above the state average.
• Castes/classes where the source of drinking water is beyond half a kilometer for more than 50% of the households.
• Castes/classes where the number of the house-holds having taken a consumption loan is at least 25% above the state average.
Great criteria but they are based upon the castes/classes and generalized over the population. They are missing the point that the opportunities for the people depends not on what caste/class they belong to but on the facilities provided, information and sensitization of various issues in that particular area. Why must they involve castes in this? .To get favors in return? No villager has come out to demand their rights: isn’t that alarming?
The list prepared based on the above mentioned criteria included 3,743 castes and most of them were included based on their occupation criterion. Isn’t there a better system where in deserving students (those who doesn’t have opportunities to compete and prove themselves) get benefits from the govt? There are various proven models all over the world which could be adopted on the pilot basis and studied. Why are we scared of experimenting new ideas in our country particularly when the previous model failed miserably to bring about the equity in distribution of opportunities?
Why should we believe recommendations of the various committees which are based totally upon the statistics and experience with no hardcore evidence about the benefits of these recommendations in a long run?

2006-05-21T10:31:00.000+05:30

Doctors India

2006-04-18T12:02:00.000+05:30

Doctors India

The Price of Your Life

2006-04-05T21:54:00.000+05:30

One of the leading national news channels is doing a special report on medical negligence this week. I’m not surprised that there was the need.
Reservations and ‘payment seats’ rule medical education in the country. Probably reservations for the weaker sections of the society in undergraduation make sense. But what sense does it make to hold reservations at the post-graduation level? Don’t you think that at some level merit should be the sole basis for selection, especially in an essential service like healthcare?
Thousands of doctors write examinations held bi-annually by premier institutes like AIIMS, Delhi; PGIMER, Chandigarh; and JIPMER, Pondicherry. Thousands of them vie for a handful of seats: the leftovers after the reservation quota. Last year in JIPMER the doctor that secured the first rank was denied a berth; unbelievable but true. It will never happen in any other faculty, I am sure.
Imagine this, you or your loved one is rushed to a hospital for an emergency. Would you rather prefer a doctor who is doing what he is doing because he’s good enough to treat you? Or would you prefer some one not so deserving, someone who is there because of his birth, treat you? If nobody is bothered about the present day scenario in the selection process, nobody has the right to lament about medical negligence. While a negligent doctor should be hauled up for his crime, don’t you think we should haul the system up so that it filters sub-standard professionals?
You must have heard about it. Take a look around and see the status of higher medical education is. Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, All India PG Entrance, and more are in the grip of corruption and malpractice. The media makes so much noise about the fee hike in IIMs. But when it comes to the plight of doctors there is apathy, save for a few conscientious journalists that bother to give it the attention that it deserves. What we have here are seeds of a catastrophe. Quite a few good doctors want to fly away to foreign shores. The undeserving, corrupt ones are slipping in. At what price you wonder. The answer is pretty simple: your life. If we don’t arrest this corruption and archaic reservation policies, if we don’t make room for all the deserving doctors soon enough, this country will be all set to succumb to a healthcare disaster of biblical proportions. So, get out there and act now. Voice your opinion, for that is the only thing that will save our doctors. And of course you, your loved ones, and the future generations.

Govt to debar guilty students

2006-04-04T09:06:00.000+05:30

A student who failed to clear MBBS in six attempts turns a topper all of a sudden in the post-graduate entrance examination!

No great achievement this. For it is tip of the unwinding of a major scam that has taken place in the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

The student is said to be the daughter of a high-profile Bangalore-based astrologer who is close to several politicians.

It is no isolated case. Medical education minister V S Acharya on Monday told the legislative council: "There are 16 such students with poor MBBS record who have made it to the list of top 22 ranks."Another case is of relative of a sitting MP from the state. [read more on Times of India]

Not enough material to scrap PG medical test: court

2006-04-04T09:02:00.000+05:30

New Delhi : Even as the Centre on Monday sought permission to scrap the all-India postgraduate medical entrance test conducted by the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Supreme Court said prima facie no material was placed before it to cancel the examination and hold a fresh one.

While rejecting the plea at this stage, a Bench, comprising Justices K.G. Balakrishnan and P.P. Naolekar, granted time till April 13 for the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the allegations of unfair means adopted at all examination centres. [Read more on The Hindu]

Overview of CBI Raids in AIIMS Conducted PG Exam Leak Case

2006-04-02T17:54:00.000+05:30

(via RxPg News)
1. 35 places were raided in Chennai, Erode, Madurai, Dindigul, Cuddalore, Kanyakumari, Salem, Villupuram, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Namakkal, Tuticorin and Pondicherry, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi (Six Raids). These places included doctors residences and clinics.

2. Out of the three kingpins, two were from Pondicherry and One from Madurai. Each collected upto one million rupees per candidate for the leak.

3. Answer keys were sent to the candidates inside examination hall on SMS messages.

4. 424 people were selected from Chennai center amongst top 1006 cadidates (whooping 42%).

5. 37% candidates in top 100 were from Chennai center.

6. The answer sheets were analysed by CBI to establish use of unfair means. (good precedent for future)

7. 28 cases against involved candidates have been registered today under Prevention of Corruption act. Out of them 20 are registered in Chennai and 6 cases in Delhi.
(via RxPg News)

The All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance 2006 Crisis

2006-04-02T17:46:00.000+05:30

Posting this on behalf of Dr.Goutham Kumar Mehta:

Introduction
We are a group of medical graduates with ranks in AIPGE 2006 have grievances regarding current ongoing crisis in this entrance examination.

Background
AIPGE 2006 was held on January 8th of this year in which 50,000 doctors all across the country except Andhra Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir participated. The results were announced on 14th of February in which 4300 ranks were listed based on their merit. This examination is 3.5 hrs long with 300 MCQ s.

Context
In India, around 26, 000 fresh doctors graduate from 220 odd colleges through out the country. In which approximately 20% leave the country mostly to UK and USA in search of better prospects and life. And the rest of them in order to achieve professional enhancement and personal satisfaction vie for the postgraduate degree in AIIMS, PGI, State entrances and AIPGE. However AIIMS and PGI offer around 40 seats each per academic session and in state entrances, for instance pget 2006 Karnataka, has only 20 free general merit seats to offer with 10000 writing the exam, leaving AIPGE as a only hope for most of the candidates who want to pursue their career in a specialized field. AIPGE is one of the most difficult exams currently taken up by the medical graduates in order to secure post graduation seats in various government medical colleges spread across the country. It takes constant, determined, and consistent effort for at least a year or two to crack this entrance examination. And most of us studied for 10-14 hrs a day without any job still dependent on our families at the prime time of our lives. This is a period of an intense mental stress and depression for most of the medical graduates.

Present Crisis
It started with the indefinite delay in counseling by the order of Ministry of Health based upon alleged widespread malpractice reported from Chennai. There was a huge discrepancy with disproportionately large numbers of candidates were in the rank list released by AIIMS. Apparently 37 in top100 and 424 in top 1006 were from Chennai. Hence, MOHFW commissioned CBI enquiry into this matter and scheduled allotment was indefinitely delayed. Meanwhile Dr Amit gupta and a few grieved doctors filed a petition in the Supreme Court for initiation of counseling and the culprits should be punished when CBI comes up with a report. On 29th march, CBI raided 37 places and found out the evidence of malpractice and modus operandi of the operation.(see Annexure).

The current scenario is that the Government is apparently in favor of scrapping of exams which was to be debated next on 3rd of April, Monday. Our apprehensions about the scrapping of the exam are charted below:

IF THERE IS A RE-EXAMINATION:

1. It takes tremendous mental preparation to take this exam and the most of them those who have qualified in this exam stopped their preparations for more than 2 months as seats were assured to them. And if there is a re exam, actual rankers would lag behind in preparation in comparison who did not make it in the rank list as continuous and constant revision is required to crack this entrance
2. What about the people who left their existing seats in other institutes since they have got a great rank in AIPGE and they can pursue a career of their choice? (see Annexure: Case History of Chitra)
3. According to the Medical Council of India, the PG seats should be filled by 31st of May, which makes it an urgent crisis and we are apprehensive about the lost PG seats. No MD psychiatry seats were filled in NIMHANS Academic year 2004 due to this MCI regulation.
4. if a re- test was the solution every time someone cheated in an exam, then the same exam can be conducted forever, since who would ensure the transparency in Re exam .
5. Because of delay in counseling and re exam, state counseling are stalled since they have to be filled after seats are filled after all India quota seat allotment.

IF THERE IS A CANCELLATION OF SEATS:

If there is a cancellation of seats through All India quota then these seats would be filled in State quota and the entrance exams are already over in most of these states. Moreover,

1. The preparation required for AIPGE and the state entrance is totally different. What about the guys who prepared only for AIPGE as their target exam? (See Annexure: Case History of Pradeep Kumar S)
2. Many students have not given state entrances as they have got a good rank in AIPGME.
3. Number of Medical colleges in Karnataka/ Tamil Nadu / Maharashtra (Most of these are private institutes which charges exorbitantly for the post graduation education) and hence the medical graduates coming out are disproportionately higher than the other states. Ergo AIPGE serves as a balanced and checked mechanism for the specialization seats.
4. In addition there is an ongoing crisis about malpractice in PGET 2006 Karnataka which leave us confused between Scylla and Charybdis. (see annexure)
5. Finally, it would not be appropriate for the Government of India to scrap this exam for 50-100 black sheep where in 4000 others toiled hard to become the best and in turn provide the best health care there is. if this exam is cancelled, it will go against the single basic rule of medicine "primum non nocere"(which means that the innocent should not suffer)

Our Request:

To the Government and the concerned authority to PUNISH THE GUILTY and let the honest aspirant who worked diligently get their deserving seat.

WHY MUST A DOCTOR WHO WORKED REALLY HARD SUFFER BECAUSE OF SOME WHO COULD PAY THEIR WAY THROUGH THE ENTRANCE?

WHY SHOULD 4000 DOCTORS GO THROUGH THE MENTAL STRESS BECAUSE 100 DID NOT WANT TO STRESS THEMSELVES?

This is not a case of some widespread paper leak but an organized malpractice through electronic media which is traceable. Then WHY NOT TRACE ALL THE CULPRITS AND PENALISE THEM RATHER THAN SCRAPPING THE EXAM?

Indian Doctors: Vilified at Home and Unwelcome Abroad

2006-04-02T17:33:00.000+05:30

You probably didn't hear about this. The explanation is very simple. It has nothing to do with the IIMs or the IITs. It is about the fate of the thousands of doctors in this country. The All India Post-Graduate Medical Entrance exam was held on January 8, 2006. Over 57,000 students appeared and over 4,000 qualified the exam. The results were announced somewhere in early February. One of my friends was ranked eighth!

On March 1, however, we were shell-shocked when we heard that the counseling scheduled for March 3 was postponed and the entrance test results were withheld. The honorable health minister Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss woke up suddenly and ordered a CBI enquiry into reported malpractices at the Chennai centers. Some 37 of the top 100 ranks were from the same center in Chennai. One might wonder why they announced the results in the first place. [Read more on Desicritics.org]