Freshers of Siddhartha Medical College were in for a rude shock on Friday when they were told that hard times had begun for them.
Speakers at the Freshers’ Day, including Dr. N.T.R. University of Health Sciences Vice-Chancellor I.V. Rao, said students should not slacken stress on academics because they had got a seat in medicine.
Prof. Rao said just an MBBS degree was worth nothing today. Students should complete post-graduation and specialise further. “You have to work hard for 11 years, five years to complete MBBS, three for post-graduation, and three more years for super specialisation,” he told the new students.
Rapid advances
Getting a rank in EAMCET did not guarantee the students good marks and performance in medicine. “Once the father of a top-rank student came up to me and said my son got 50 rank in EAMCET, but he failed in Anatomy. Then I had to tell him that his son failed because he did not study properly,” he observed.
About the rapid advances in medical sciences, Prof. Rao recalled the science fiction film, Fantastic Voyage, he had seen when he was a student. In the film, scientist enters the body of a patient in space ship, which they shrink, and breakdown a blood clot in his brain.
Three decades later, doctors were doing similar things though not with miniaturised spaceships, but with endoscopic equipment that could go into the deepest crevasses of the body.
Doctors had to be abreast with fast-changes in technology, he opined.
Surgical gastroenterologist P.V. Ramana Murthy, invited as chief guest for the celebrations, gave tips to youngsters. He said many young doctors asked as to why they were burdened with the onerous task of “doing service.”
The patients who come to a doctor were not there for pleasure.
Sage advice
“They don’t come to the doctor for shopping, they come because they are suffering. The last thing a doctor should do is ill treat his patients,” he said.
Dr. Ramana Murthy told the medicos to aim high, higher than what others dream of. That will definitely make them successful. Along with academic excellence, doctors should also develop leadership qualities to be successful.
SMC principal A. Krishna Murthy, vice-principals — Ravi Kumar and K.L.N. Prasad spoke.
