Unusual events happen to surprise us or to call our attention to realities we ignored.
Among the many things that got badly disturbed by the COVID season was the training programme of undergraduate medical students. A final year medical student who completed his final year medical examination and waiting to join internship, told me that he missed two years of clinical training due the COVID as classes were suspended.
About 30 percent of medical students in one state in South India did not appear for the final year examination to protest against the inadequate training they received. They were arguing for an extension of their training for six months for them to have more clinical bed side demonstrations. But the university and the the honourable court rejected their appeal. They decided to boycott the examination.
It is one occasion when I looked forward to reading more on this matter with medical college teachers becoming generous to offer work extra, to provide further training for the final year students. But that did not happen. I felt alone when I raised this another for consideration.
Two batches of medical students had this unfortunate situation of inadequate bed side clinical truing. One batch is now about to complete the internship. I heard interns discussing in a group meeting that it was extremely distressing not to have been able to examine patients methodically to come to an impression about their illness as they did not have usual final year bed side learning which normally equipped them to advance in clinical competencies.
I find this disturbing and alarming!
Inspite of alerting the policy makers by a section of medical educationalists, the universities did not offer the benefit to students to feel better equipped!
I noticed an unfeeling heart among the policy makers!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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