BMC leaves students asking for more

VADODARA, July 19: To the public eye, the recently inaugurated cobalt unit and the state-of-the-art urology department are value-addition...

VADODARA, July 19: To the public eye, the recently inaugurated cobalt unit and the state-of-the-art urology department are value-additions to the SSG Hospital and its associate, the Baroda Medical College.

For the 1,000-odd BMC students, their 150-strong faculty and 350 resident doctors, however, they are just hi-tech reminders of a sore point: the absence of any super-speciality faculties to absorb post-graduates keen to study further. Their absence also means the Rs 2 crore-cobalt unit and Rs 1 crore urology department can be used, at best, sporadically instead of regularly.

And though State Health Minister Ashok Bhatt promises to do something about it, senior students, their teachers and veteran doctors are inclined to be sceptical about the establishment of super-speciality faculties.

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Regrets a distinguished city-based doctor who, like many of his colleagues, did his superspecialisation elsewhere Mumbai, Chandigarh, Lucknow and colleges abroad are the favourites “Only the State’s first chief minister, Jivraj Mehta, took the initiative to develop Gujarat’s medical college, probably because he had been principal of Mumbai’s KEM Medical College. None of the succeeding governments could progress a step further.”

The government disinterest in the BMC is a sore point with most veteran medical practitioners in the city. A consultant urologist goes so far as to allege that while political connections had paved the way for super-specialisation being introduced in the Ahmedabad and Jamnagar medical colleges, all Vadodara had got was a raw deal.

“Only one doctor mans the plastic surgery faculty; even those services are honorary”, say doctors. One possible reason for the State apathy is the low number of students who want to go in for super-specialities. From a batch of 120-150 students, only about 50, at the most, want to go in for post-PG studies. To this argument, as also the alleged ego problems of senior doctors in allowing others their bit of sunshine, veterans say such faculties can only benefit the city medical community as a whole.

“Some doctors and politicians suffer from the impression that we’d take away patients from SSG. But the patients who come to the general hospital simply can’t afford to go elsewhere. By having these faculties, we’ll add to our experience and earn respect from students by sharing our specialised knowledge. That respect will be our net profit”, says a paediatric surgeon.

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Interestingly, several established BMC alumni are willing to offer their honorary services to the new faculties, if and when they come up.

While BMC dean D N Shah says he, along with other senior doctors, have been long seeking the establishment of one super-speciality faculty here, the State health minister says he is serious about the proposal.

Admitting that BMC students and teachers alike were going through a depressive phase, Bhatt says, “I have already started talks with senior members of the Baroda Medical College Alumni Association in this context. Senior teacher Kamal Pathak will attend their biennial convention from July 30 in New York.”

Meanwhile, BMCAA (North America) president Dilip Parikh told Express Newsline that the issue was on agenda.