The state of the Indian medical education sector is reaching concerning levels after an anonymous open letter by a student was made public.
What Did The Open Letter Say?
The letter was first posted by health and human rights activist Prof Dr Vitull K. Gupta on his X/Twitter profile on 7th August 2024.
He captioned a photo of the letter, “Most surprisingly why no one is taking about collapsing medical edu in India and more importantly miserable working conditions of resident doctors. Request all to Please take up this sensitive issue in what ever capacity you can and save medical education in India”.
The letter starts with, “I am a medical student, compelled by the prevailing miserable condition of medical UG and PG students, i am writing this open letter. A vast majority of UG and PG students in India suffer from serious mental health issues, ranging from adjustment disorder to severe depression, a lot of them being suicidal.”
It further questions what authority the National Medical Commission (NMC) truly has if, even after all the notices issued, its words are ignored.
The letter wrote, “It is unimaginable that the National Medical Commission (NMC) yields no power, because inspite of multiple notices by the esteemed NMC that hostel accommodation shall not be compulsory for PG residents, stipend shall be at par with state colleges, weekly off shall be given to residents, weekly work hours shall be limited.
I stand as a steadfast witness that not a single rule made by the NMC is followed at multiple medical colleges running postgraduate courses across the nation.
To see the condition of UG and PG students on a daily basis, their struggle to keep afloat, it pushes me to depression. If I have the information of the state of affairs, am I to believe that the NMC is in the dark and is unaware of what is happening in India.”
The student also spoke about how medical students are being threatened by various people and groups, “Medical colleges run by the local leaders and goons of political parties openly threaten students with exuberant monetary fines, suspension and what not.”
It also addressed the fact that NMC doesn’t seem to have a specific portal for complaints and how wrong it is after all the lakhs of rupees that students spend on just education.
The letter stated, “Furthermore, NMC has no proper portal for complaints, and does the NMC really expect students to complain after giving their complete details, paying upwards of 80-90 lakhs as course fee, such institutions openly threaten the students with detention and failure in examinations as they hold the key.”
It also wrote about how it is hard to think that the NMC is not aware of the crisis and how there is no proper enforcement of the rules saying “Am I to believe that the NMC is unaware of all this and if not, where is the action, is it enough to obtain details of stipend, is it enough to issue a notice stating hostels are not compulsory, WHO WILL ENFORCE IT.”
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The letter concludes by questioning what even the purpose of the NMC is if year-on-year students are threatened, commit suicide, and more.
It wrote “What saddens me is the illusion that the NMC will do something, the hope that someday these dictatorial institutions will be held liable. Alas, nothing ever happens, no change occurs.
Students keep getting threatened, keep committing suicides and we stand as silent spectators. If the NMC can’t do anything, why do we have such a body, what good is its existence.
I could reveal the name of the institutions but what would happen then, as some lowly clerk in the NMC will be on the payroll of the people running such ghastly institutions which will lead to my victimisation, with no where to find justice.
For the first time ever, the NMC had such people heading it, that it gave me hope, I really believed in the current people running it, but we all know hope does, IT KILLS!”
Prof Dr Vitull K Gupta also speaking with EdexLive explained why he decided to post the open letter online saying, “I received an anonymously written letter from a medical student that vividly exposed the current state of medical education. I decided to release it as an open letter on behalf of all students.”
He further spoke about his work and how NMC is not doing the job it should be doing.
He said, “I have been fighting against unethical practices in medical education for the last six to seven years. When MCI (Medical Council of India) was there, even though it was branded corrupt, there was still some fear among the private medical colleges to keep up the standard somehow.
But NMC, now, has become toothless. They only issue guidelines and cannot even check whether or not these guidelines are being followed.”
Medical Education In India
The issue with medical students in India is not a new one, since a few years now, students have been talking about the declining situation of medical education.
Students have been posting on various platforms about how the conditions for them are only worsening with institutes and even NMC not taking any proper measures to bring about change.
In May this year, a Livemint report claimed that almost “130 medical students had taken their lives in the last five years” forcing the NMC to launch an online survey asking medical students and faculty to submit details on the mental health issues they were suffering from.
This led to the government’s medical education authority finding out that over 37,000 students were going through mental health issues.
A government official anonymously said, “Currently, PG students are working as much as 100 hours a week without any break.”
Another official speaking anonymously said, “We have received more than 37,000 applications from medical students and faculty which itself indicates that doctors are suffering from mental stress.
Most of the students face problems in hostels, and during ragging, which we are streamlining. Our education system for primary and secondary classes are reformed, but there is no work regulation for higher education. For PG students, we have directed states to relax seat leaving bond policy of the state government.”
Dr Nand Kumar, professor of the psychiatric department at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi also commented, “This is just tip of iceberg. The numbers of doctors suffering from mental health illnesses could be much higher. The data itself says that around 70% of doctors feel burnout. They feel lack of interest going to the workplace, lack of pleasure, lack of motivation and lack of communication among the medical community and acceptability is very poor.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: EdexLive, Medical Dialogues, Livemint
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