PG Times

Guest article by Dr. Sumit Ray,  senior consultant & vice-chairperson, Critical Care & Emergency Medicine, Sir Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi. When your doctor prescribes a medicine saying it’s the best for you, are you sure it’s in your best interest, or was he taken on a luxury cruise last summer by the pharmaceutical company which sells that medication? If he refers you to a particular hospital or diagnostic facility, is it your best interest he has in mind? Or is he getting a “cut” or commission (euphemistically called “facilitation fees”) for it? Doctors might say they cannot be bought with expensive meals and holidays but there is strong evidence that even the smallest of gifts or favours can alter their prescribing practices. A study by Dr Ashley Wazana, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), established that gifts, sponsored meals, conference travel, funding for conferences, all significantly alter the prescribing practices of doc...

Guest article by Dr. Gobind Rai Garg. One of the very commonly asked questions from me is HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE PG ENTRANCE EXAM?   Dear friends, although I feel that the study strategy should be individualized and varies from person to person. The general points that should be considered are: 1. The syllabus should be finished at least once (with crisp study material for final revision, mostly notes) around one month before the exams. 2. Keep last one month for revision only 3. An average of 6 to 8 hours (focussed) per day is sufficient for studies. There should be no use of facebook, whatsapp or any other distraction during these hours. Take small breaks after every 1.5 to 2 hours of study.   4. Keep ONE DAY OFF EVERY WEEK. It increases the productivity of remaining 6 days. 5. Most importantly give around HALF AN HOUR FOR REVISION DAILY for the topics you have studied in that particular day. Revising same day help in incorporating that topic in long term m...

Beti Bachao drive has improved : About 49 of 100 districts where government's ambitious 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign to save and empower the girl child was launched last year has recorded significant improvement in child sex-ratio at birth, Union minister Maneka Gandhi said on Tuesday. "There has been significant improvement in child sex-ratio at birth in 49 districts which is much beyond our expectation," she said. Maneka who holds charge of the women and child development said speaking at the launch of the campaign in 61 additional districts. Districts in Haryana and Uttarkhand are among the ones that have registered positive results, the ministry claimed. Maneka emphasised on the need for compulsory registration and monitoring of pregnant women by village panchayats to curb female foeticide. "Sarpanches (village heads) should be made the nodal person in every village for monitoring pregnant women," she said. Setting a target for imp...

The Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for implementation of National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses across the country. The top court set aside its 2013 order by which the common entrance test for admissions to MBBS, BDS and PG courses in all medical colleges was quashed. Hearing a  review petition on NEET , the top court said it will hear the case afresh on validity of the common entrance test. "Till the matter is decided NEET can be implemented," the top court said. The Supreme Court had, in June 2013, had ruled that the Medical Council of India (MCI)'s notification for holding common entrance tests for MBBS, BDS and post-graduate medical courses as invalid. A three-judge bench by a 2:1 verdict held that the notification was against the Constitution. The court had ruled that the MCI did not have the jurisdiction to enforce common entrance test (CET) on private medical colleges and that the move could also violate c...

Union Health Minister J.P Nadda on Monday said that the government has started setting up super specialty blocks in 70 of its existing medical colleges across the country. "The government encourages the setting up of new medical colleges and strengthening the existing ones. Existing medical colleges are being upgraded by setting up of super specialty blocks in 70 such medical colleges in the entire country," he said in his address at the sixth Convocation of PGIMER at RML hospital here. Nadda also said that the government is expanding the network of the medical colleges in a big way by upgrading 58 district hospitals to medical colleges, while 20 state cancer institutes and 50 tertiary cancer care centre will also be set up. Urging the hospital administration to harness the tremendous potential of IT services in medical education and health care delivery, he said his ministry is "taking concrete steps to expand the scope of telemedicine -- bringing in ...

Importance of a decent remuneration in any job cannot be undermined. Though the nature of the medical profession is such that concerns of remuneration take a backseat in general, yet there is a vast difference of pay scales existing in the public and private sector for the same posts, preventing the youth from joining public sector health institutions. Similar notions have been voiced by the recent Parliamentary committee on health, which noted with serious concern that medicine is no longer a priority for the brightest among the youth. This issue has also become glaringly visible with the increase in the disinterest of the country’s brightest to opt for teaching jobs in the public sector health institutions. The commitee pointed out that pay structure for the medical profession should be designed specifically to make the remuneration commensurate to the commitement, skills and accountability Why is this happening? Medical Profession at one point was the most coveted one in...