http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/best-colleges-for-medicine-is-aiims/1/144080.html
Thirty-two thousand fresh faces will fill up 273 medical colleges this month. The countdown will start for next year's nearly six lakh wannabe medics. They will roll up their sleeves to face the alphabet soup of 17 MBBS entrance exams: AIIMS, AIPMT, EMVET, UPCPMT, MHTCET, AFMC, JIPMER, PMET and so on. They will figure out the top medical schools. They will check out coaching centres with the best mock test modules. And they will study smart: mechanics (not just physics), genetics (not just biology) and a daily dose of business newspapers for "GK". The super-ambitious 45,000 will eye the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) exam, although just 77 will get in.
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INDIA TODAY's Best Medical Schools league table has a jolt in store for them. In its 14-year history, there has never been this big a shake-up in the rankings. The long-standing topper, AIIMS, is still at the top. But then there is the great churning lower down, with hallowed rankers turning over the keys to new aspirants.
In a surprise sweep, Delhi has captured the top slots. Maulana Azad Medical College has jumped up two places to second spot. In hot pursuit, and just 1.8 points behind, is the University College of Medical Sciences & Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in Dilshad Garden. It springs a surprise not just by outperforming Lady Hardinge Medical College, but also the traditional toppers from the south: Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune and JIPMER in Puducherry
A reputed college like St. John's Medical College, Bangalore, has plunged a whopping 12 slots. Many other medical colleges in Karnataka have also slipped in the rankings. The state's poor showing can probably be explained by the endemic staff shortage in most medical colleges there (as revealed by a status report to the Karnataka High Court this year). There are five new entrants (and 'comeback kids') this year.
Ever since our survey began in 1997, AIIMS has topped the list (except in 2002, when it ceded the top spot to CMC). How does an institution maintain its leadership for so long? "We have the single-minded goal of developing dynamic leaders with creativity, intellectual rigour and professionalism fit for 21st century healthcare," says Dr R.C. Deka, the director.
Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, has moved upto a surprise second.
"AIIMS gives its students the confidence and experience to compete anywhere, be it the global workplace or India's new corporate healthcare sector." Catch the numbers: here 629 teachers, all superspecialists, put in 36,000 hours a year to train the Gen Next of Indian medicine. MBBS students rub shoulders with the veterans for 1,000 hours of clinical experience. They get their hands dirty in the 120 laboratories up to six hours a week. With 71,827 books, 568 digital databases and over 80,000 journals in the library, they burn the midnight oil along with their teachers who publish the largest quantum of medical research in the country. "In 2010, the faculty and scientists took part in 300 research projects, published 1,559 papers in high-impact journals apart from 245 books and monographs," says Dr Y.K. Gupta, head of pharmacology and the spokesperson for AIIMS. It's not a small question of studying for a tough degree here. An AIIMS degree opens up the world. "Ninety-five per cent of our students qualified for postgraduate courses last year," says Dr Rakesh Yadav, the sub-dean. Last year, 15 per cent of students joined postgraduate courses in AIIMS while 35 per cent went to PGI, Chandigarh. "A lot of students take off for foreign shores, too," says Gaurav Saraswat, who has just completed his MBBS. Yadav agrees: "About 50 per cent go to universities in the US and the UK every year for higher studies or to work." The maximum compensation in a foreign placement during 2009-10 was to the tune of $70,000. For Indian placements, the highest was Rs 14 lakh. Saraswat, who is about to start his non-academic junior residency in radiology, might continue in the burgeoning field. "I can opt for civil services, too," he points out.
The pipeline of opportunities doesn't surprise market analysts. "AIIMS has always been the most-respected medical institute in terms of funding, staff, students, values, reputation, teaching, research and clinical care," says Pramod Maheshwari, CMD and CEO of Career Point Infosystems in Kota, Rajasthan, which has been coaching students for competitive examinations for two decades. "With the healthcare boom raging around the country, medical degree is now perceived to be more lucrative than an MBA both by parents and students." While a fresh MBBS at a private hospital today draws around Rs 30,000 a month, a postgraduate degree and relevant experience can fetch Rs 5-7 lakh. "With its reputation for all-round excellence, AIIMS has become a 'brand'," he adds. Procuring and retaining talent is a big issue for the big-ticket corporate hospitals. "And the brand association of AIIMS is very high."
To stay at the edge, AIIMS also went all out last year. Brand new units in pulmonary (complete with a PG course), genetic, geriatric, transplant and emergency medicine are being set up. A national cancer centre is in the pipeline. "Apart from frontline research in infectious diseases, metabolic disorders and molecular medicine, our doctors introduced new treatment protocols and innovative surgeries," says Deka with pride.
A case in point: robotic surgery, one of the vital new technologies revolutionising modern surgery. This year, AIIMS adopted robotic surgery in every department.
| STORY OF CLINICAL MILESTONESIt's Nehru's dream supreme: an institute where the best medical minds would come together to understand mechanisms of diseases and evolve trailblazing therapies.Recommended by Bhore Committee in 1946, piloted by India's first health minister, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, and funded by New Zealand under the Colombo Plan, the foundation stone was laid in 1952. Although envisioned as a referral, over the years it has grown to be India's busiest hospital with 25 lakh outpatients, 1.5 lakh inpatients, 1.8 lakh emergencies and 1.31 surgries a year-catering to prime ministers as well as to the common man. A unique journey of clinical milestones and research breakthroughs. |
A short trot from 2008 when Dr Arvind Kumar, professor of surgery, conducted India's first robotic surgery at the institute. "Innovative practices in the operation theatre are helping us to stay ahead," says the man who remembers the basic, simple OT as a student in the '80s. "The operating table had to be cranked up or down with a jack then. Today everything moves at the touch of a button," says Kumar. "Our vision for AIIMS is not just excellence in academics, patient care and research," adds Gupta. "It has to become the top-ranking medical school in the world, too." If AIIMS is gearing up to stay in step with the new landscape of healthcare delivery, its students and doctors are getting the choice and option of moving from green to greener pastures. Exodus of doctors from AIIMS to the private sector has become a daunting reality. But Deka prefers to look at the positive side. "It only shows the strength of the AIIMS system," he says. "People leave to compete successfully anywhere they go. That's possible only because of the way they are nurtured here." Dr G.K. Rath, who heads the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Cancer Hospital at AIIMS, puts it aptly: "If you boil milk, you get cream. Boil again, you'll again get cream." To those who have learnt their art and craft at AIIMS, teachers are the most precious resource. Dr Shiladitya Sengupta still remembers the day he stepped inside the hallowed portals as a student in the '90s. It was a place that swarmed with doctors who chaired international committees and after whom diseases were named. Today, even as an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, US, his teachers at AIIMS still continue to be his role models. "They challenged us to dream, to aim for the stars and to put our heart into whatever we did-academics, sports or politics." That's the best certificate of excellence that an institute can ever hope to receive.
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