Many doctors believe that the younger generation’s attraction to medicine as a career is decreasing and naturally they are concerned about this sorry trend. Medicine used to be a very high profile profession to be in and has always attracted good number of bright and intelligent students. Slowly and gradually, the numbers began to decline. Today, it has reached a stage where students are openly showing least interest in pursuing medicine as their career.“Everybody wants easy money, less hard work and also wants to get settled fast. All of these are not present in the medical line. It takes about 10 years to get over with all the medical studies. So, definitely it’s a tough line and only those who are passionate about it can go on.” i reiterate.

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Is MBBS Course losing its charm?
By.Dr.Mahboob ali khan Phd
Many doctors believe that the younger generation’s attraction to
medicine as a career is decreasing and naturally they are concerned
about this sorry trend. Medicine used to be a very high profile
profession to be in and has always attracted good number of bright and
intelligent students. Slowly and gradually, the numbers began to
decline. Today, it has reached a stage where students are openly
showing least interest in pursuing medicine as their career.
It was recently brought to the notice of a professor working in a
government medical college and hospital in New Delhi that many Delhi
schools including Amity, Shri Ram and St Columbus are considering
to close the biology section for their 10+2 students. Also, in a Class-X
batch of a reputed Delhi-based private school, when it was asked how
many of them were planning to pursue MBBS, only one student raised
his hand.
According to a media report appearing in Careers360, the number of
students who appeared for the All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) in
the year 2014 was 6,16,982 whereas 6,58,040 candidates had appeared
in 2013. This shows a decline in numbers.
But according to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE),
which conducts the AIPMT, the number of applicants in general is
increasing every year. K K Chaudhary, exam controller, CBSE, told
India Medical Times, “The number of students applying for MBBS is
rising. Though, this year’s number of applicants was less in comparison
with the last year. The reduction took place as the curriculum got
changed from being the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)
in 2013 to AIPMT in 2014.”
Dr Nand Kumar, sub-dean of academics, All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, told India Medical Times, “If we look
at the past three years, the number of applicants for the MBBS course
has increased. This year, 2 lakh candidates applied for the course,
whereas in the last year, 1.5 lakh candidates had applied. And, if we

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look at the year 2012, then only 85 thousand candidates had applied, as
far as the MBBS entrance exam for AIIMS is concerned.”
Alka Verma, head of biology department at Springdales School, New
Delhi holds a different opinion. She has been teaching biology for two
decades and has seen a tremendous decline in the interest among
students to pursue medicine.
According to her, the reason behind the increase in numbers of students
appearing for pre-medical test is the increasing population of our
country, which results in increasing aspirants.
On being asked whether the number of students interested in pursuing
MBBS has really gone down in recent years, Alka Verma told India
Medical Times, “The numbers did get reduced almost 7-8 years back
from now. It was so low that one year I had a class of just four biology
students. Normally, we used to have a class of 20 to 25 students of
biology in comparison to 60-70 students of physics. The situation is
even worse in government schools, since there is hardly any
infrastructure for biology.”
She further said, “Everybody wants easy money, less hard work and
also wants to get settled fast. All of these are not present in the medical
line. It takes about 10 years to get over with all the medical studies. So,
definitely it’s a tough line and only those who are passionate about it
can go on.” This is the major factor, according to her, as to why students
are not much interested in pursuing the medical line. Dr Nand Kumar
also agrees with this opinion.
Another factor pointed out by career counsellor, Zubin Malhotra is that
the number of seats available for MBBS aspirants is very less. He told
India Medical Times, “The competition has increased but there are not
many medical colleges to absorb all the candidates.” He said if the
number could increase a bit without spoiling the quality of education
then a better situation might come.
Malhotra also mentioned about the high capitation fee charged by
private medical colleges in India and said that this also acts as quite a

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big disadvantage for many students aspiring for the medical profession.
Media reports suggest that there are private medical colleges in India,
who charge up to Rs 50 lakh from a candidate before giving him or her
a seat in the MBBS course.
Alka Verma, who has her students studying in AIIMS, Maulana Azad
and other reputed medical colleges, even her own daughter studies in
one of such medical colleges, said, “The infrastructural facilities at
many hospitals are very low and also, the salary structure is quite
disappointing even for someone who has completed his medical
graduation, done internship and postgraduation as well, they are not
given a decent salary.”
She believes that change might come when the government takes
initiatives towards improving the condition of the medical sector, as
only then a greater number of students might be driven towards the
medical line.
Recently, in the AIIMS, New Delhi campus an exhibition was held,
named ‘Catalyst Medical Exhibition’, which invited students and
parents from all age groups. Though its aim was to raise fund for an
orphanage, for their medical treatment, but it also provided necessary
information to the medical aspirants as well as their parents.
Dr Kushagra Pathak, president of the students union, AIIMS, New
Delhi, told Indian Medical Times, “The motivation behind this
exhibition was to raise funds for the orphanage and being medical
students, we thought that sharing our experience and knowledge with
other students will be a great way to raise funds and so we organised
this exhibition.”According to Dr Pathak, the exhibition raised Rs 2
lakh, which included the sponsorship fees and the event tickets. After
experiencing a positive response, the organisers are now planning
another exhibition that may be held next year.
If more such seminars and exhibitions are held by various organisations
and especially the people who are in the medical field, then the
awareness regarding this promising and noble profession will increase
and hopefully, the situation will become better.