09 June 2007

Language Barrier

JIPMER is host to students from all corners and caves of India. And with India being such a culturally rich and diverse country, these students come from varied backgrounds. They come from a number of states and regions that have their own languages. While hindi and tamil are spoken or understood by a large populace of the nation, there are other languages too. And with Puducherry being a tamil speaking state, a lot of the students face a lot of difficulty conversing with them.

Medicine is not a course that can be completed from the comfort of the lecture halls and libraries. All students have to face the patients themselves. And even though Puducherry is a developed state as per some standards, most of the patients who come to JIPMER are from rural villages and do not know even Hindi, let alone a word of english.

Many students in the run up to ward leaving exams or university exams pray more that they get an english speaking patient than pray that they remember the theory of the subject.

It would have been nice if in the decades since JIPMER was inaugurated, the administration had by now realised or acknowledged this difficlutly for the students and arranged for some coaching classes in tamil for the students. But all that they have been able to come up with is a small booklet in which common tamil words (spoken to the patients) are phenotically spelled out in hindi. This is of little help for the many students who do not speak/read hindi.

While colleges and universities across the globe employ student councellors and do their best to help and assist their students to get settled in, it seems a leading college like JIPMER could not be less bothered.

03 June 2007

The Backward Mentality

Where would medical science be without technological advancement? What if the majority of medical practitionars boycotted the CAT Scan or MRI saying that is is unnecessary or unnatural? Seeing the amazing speeds at which medical research has advanced and continue to advance with the help of the latest technologies like the electron microscope, Antibody studies and now even Gene Therapy, one would think that doctors and medical colleges would be the first to embrace technologies. Not so at JIPMER.

A decade or more ago Internet was almost unheard of in Puducherry. There were few cyber cafes and they charged over Rs 65 per hour. But yet the internet had been up in the rest of the world for over two decades already. The internet and the information highway that it offers has been embraced with open arms by all professionals (except in India I guess).

In the last few years there has been an exponential rise in the number of students owning computers and laptops at JIPMER. This is natural with the advancement in computing and the drop in their prices. Computers are such useful tools for medical students but the backward administration at JIPMER fail to grasp it. So while students at colleges all over Europe and America and even some Asian contries like Malaysia took their Laptops to their lectures, any student known to own such a machine at JIPMER is scorned upon by the professors. He/She is deemed to be not interested in studies.

You see, these professors, who seems to be living in the 1960s, do not seem to know that medical software is a booming industry. That there are websites dedicated to medicine and medical students. What these old timers think is that computers are only for porn.

With the rise in the number of computers in the Hostel, there arose an interest among the students in getting internet in their rooms. They dreamt about the ease with which they can get extra information. The thought of the number of interesting websites out there was like a mirage in a desert. Tools, pneumonics, student aides, lectures, past papers, tests that they can take to check their knowledge, interesting X-Rays or ECGs that they can see and learn about, keep up with the latest breakthroughs in medicine. The internet offered so much and more.

Instead of encouraging this interest. Instead of guiding these students to the best online resources. Instead of teaching these students (some of whom had never touched a PC before) their way around the World Wide Web. Internet was denied. The reason? The wisdom of the warden was that the students would watch porn.

I wonder if there is another premier college in the world who denied their students internet for fear of them watching porn. Then why not deny any books in the hostel too, becuase there are porn magazines and porn novels too.

JIPMER will never top the college charts as long as such idiotic things continue to happen.

The Mess At JIPMER

JIPMER was once rated as the third best medical college in India. The reason most beleive that it keeps losing the pole position to AIIMS is becuase of the lack of services and facilities for the students. If the ranking system considered only the teaching faculty then there is high chance that JIPMER would be unbeatable in that race.

Take the Student's Mess for example. Ten years ago the Mess basic was just Rs 750 per month. It was run by two students who came forward each month. The food was not the best but good enough. Now the Mess Basic is over Rs 1000, it is run by private contractors and the food is unpalatable.

I remember one time the Dean and Director (and their usual entourage) got some itch and visited the Mess. Some of the students were in line waiting for food to be served. Suddenly they walk out from the cooking area and one of them said to the students in line "Do you know how filthy it is back there?"

What do you think? Of course we know how filthy it is. And we know more about the unhygenic practices of the cooks than you care to know about. But it is your responsibility to provide us with good clean food. What do you expect the students to do; spend their free time scrubbing the kitchen floor?

Over the past few years the Mess Basic has been regualy going up and the food quality going down. More and more students are being forced to get food from outside. Not only is this more expensive but it takes a lot more time. Time which can be spent doing what they are there to do; studying.

With this and other inconveniences abound in the Hostel, the warden can be seen fretting about the grass on the hostel lawn or the flower beds in front of his office.

29 May 2007

Professors at JIPMER need to change

As in every other college in the world sometimes at JIPMER too some students get into trouble. They might have varying reasons ranging from acceptable to outrageous. But once they do and they want to get back to their studies, it would be good to have some support from the teachers and help to get back on track.

The aspect of studies given the most importance in JIPMER is the attendance. Of course attendance is important in a medical college. But let's face it, everyone cuts classes sometimes. But then we invariably get back to their classes. It's not like we abscond the whole year.

I don't know about other colleges but this getting back to the routine has it's own obstacles at JIPMER. For instance if one student cuts a few classes and then shows up one day. Instead of encouraging his return he is met with jokes and ridicule by the professors. So, many a time, the student feels apprehensive about facing the profs. So he/she ends up cutting even more classes.

And these jokes are of the worst kind usually involving ethnicity, state of origin (Bihar being a favourite for jokes and Bihar students among the most ridiculed) or religion. If it is a Christian student it's a joke about the church or Jesus and if it's a Muslim student it's a joke about the Taliban or Al-gaeda.

If this had been a more civilised and developed nation in the west, these kinds of attacks would have lead to lawsuits.

It's time you old-timers learned something about students and started encouraging them. It's time you started helping these students who are lagging behind for reasons of their own. Unlike western colleges, Indian colleges do not have chancellors and as you can see, the professors are not the kind who give a shit.

A change would be nice to see.

22 May 2007

When Standing Isn't Practical

During the Practicals such as in Pathology or Microbiology, the students get first hand experience with the para-clinical tests and procedures that are vital for modern diagnosis of diseases. It is truly some fascinating hours that they get to spend in those labs.

At the end of two hours of working with the specimens and microscopes, the department residents come to take a class. This is when the agony and insanity starts. Regardless of the fact that the students have been working for over 3 hours since lunch they are made to stand for over 45 minutes while the resident goes on and on about the topic of the day.

Yes I agree, what is being taught is usually very useful and the tips and advice coming from the residents are sometimes not found even in the text books. But why not sit down and go about it with a bit of comfort? In what study has it shown that students find it easier to concentrate when they are made to stand for long periods of time in a hot and humid place? What is the problem with sitting down in the many many chairs available in the lab?

After 10 minutes of listening to the resident most students are preoccupied with their aching legs. Is this the best way to teach and to learn?

This kind of stupid and irrational behaviour is not befitting of medical practitioners who are responsible for the lives of their patients.

21 May 2007

Flushing The Tank @ JIPMER

Every once in a while all smart people get new ideas. Not all of them are good but sometimes it's a good idea to follow through with some of them just to see where it leads. Perhaps it might do some good in the end, right? But some of these ideas are just so obviously atrocious from the get go that no intelligent person would consider acting upon them. It is always a good idea to consider the repercussions of such a course of action before going through with it.

Case in point; over a year ago the Boys Hostel warden, after a sudden brainstorm, removed the flush tanks in all the toilets. At first there was hope that finally the malfunctioning tanks (which were the majority) would be replaced. But now that weeks have run into months and months into years, the students have accepted the fact that they are doomed to 6 years without flush tanks.

A lot of students are of the opinion that the aging Warden is finally going senile. Maybe he is but he's not the only one responsible for the welfare of these students. Where is the Director and the Dean? Isn't it time someone came forward to provide these students with the means for proper hygiene? I mean, these are medical students for goodness sakes... At least doctors should have hygiene before lecturing patients.

And talking of hygiene, I wish some of these so called "medical students" would learn some proper hygiene. When all of them come to JIPMER they keep bragging about their entrance ranks and their parents' posh jobs. If so then why not act like you are smart educated children of smart educated people. At least flush your own shit. You mother isn't going to come and do it anymore. You are in a hostel at a medical school now.

So many times I have had to walk into a toilet and find the bowl full of someone's shit. You aren't children anymore. Your mamma ain't coming to wash your ass anymore. Flush your shit just like everyone else and stop shaming your mothers.

18 May 2007

The Warm Welcome

After the euphoria of surviving through the entrance exam and getting a seat in the prestigious JIPMER the students have to go through the admission procedures and are introduced to the "hardworking" staff of the Academic Section. This is the first experience of college that these kids, fresh out of school, get.

What these staff don't realise is how hard these students have worked to be where they are. Instead of appreciating their value they are looked down as if they had just crawled out of some cave. As if they have no right or value to be where they are.

The first evidence of this lack of respect is seen by the way these staff handle the results sheets of the CBSE exam of these students. Some of these sheets might contain the very best results in the country and be of more value than most people's kidneys. But are these staff aware of this?

First thing they do is punch holes in these certificates and put a string through them like it's a bunch of bananas. These sheets of papers that these kids have worked their whole life to achieve and these idiots punch holes in them. I don't know about others but for me that's an agonizing sight to see.

After mutilating the life's work of these poor students the certificates are all put away in some dusty cupboard, in most cases to be misplaced or eaten by moths.

Show some respect to these students would you please. Those might be just sheets of papers but it's their life's work. Handle them with care.