Studying gets morbid

There was some stark news – there are just not enough cadavers for science labs, biology classes in colleges, for test drives for auto companies. It brings to mind that funny scene from Munnabhai, where ‘Circuit’ was asked to find a body for study and he gets an ‘imported body’! It was a hilarious, rip roaring scene but not too far away from the truth.

Students in science classrooms, given increasing medical colleges and seats, there are juts not enough cadavers for learning clinical techniques. Government colleges get cadavers, but private colleges are in a fix as they have to request permission and wait for government approval to get a cadaver. Every batch of 120 students needs at least 12 bodies to observe and learn. But today, with much lower percentage of unclaimed bodies due to better communication channels and even fewer ‘undiseased’ body, the shortage it seems is alarming. Consequently, many colleges are contemplating using virtual learning through simulators, which are 3D digital models of the human body.  Madras Medical College has sent a Rs.5 crore proposal for mannequins to the Govt so that students to undergo training.

As such, we constantly complain about poor quality of doctors and if they now get trained with not the ‘real’ thing but mannequins and virtual learning, what further happens to the quality of doctors?