Bhubaneswar: The Medical Counseling Committee (MCC) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) is expected to declare the date of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2021 counselling for undergraduate courses (UG) soon, even as the Supreme Court has put the same on hold for post-graduate courses for some time.
At this key juncture of their career, aspirants of medical sciences should make a wise choice to sustain and excel in one of the toughest professions. AIIMS Bhubaneswar Director Professor Gitanjali Batmanabane, who considers counselling to be a significant step, shared some suggestions to make the right choice with OdishaBytes.
What is the significance of counselling prior to admission into medical colleges?
The importance of this step is that students get a chance to select the place in which they finally want to go. India being so diverse, sometimes students like to go to a place where the same kind of language is spoken or someone may have some relatives living in some city and they find it comfortable to study in that city. The career implications are also there.
When a student goes to a top-class institute, they are open to a lot of outside influences. They get to see the research that is going on and get motivated to know what all is going on in the medical field. So, choosing a medical college, with very good training would be very helpful, especially for young students. There is a lot of studying to be done. It is a very tough course. So, unless someone is actually motivated to study hard, they don’t do good. Another important aspect is that most of the government medical colleges get a wide variety of patients. So, students get a lot of exposure. By the time they do their internship, they are very confident to go out even as general medical doctors.
What should an aspirant keep in mind while making a choice?
Some of the subjects at the post-graduate level are physically demanding. For most of the surgery subjects, one has to stand and work for long hours. If you can’t take the stress, you should avoid such streams. One has to be prepared for such training while pursuing post-graduate courses. If aspirants are aiming at going into a big institution, they should be mentally prepared to study very hard and undertake rigorous training. There are a lot of people who join and later quit because they can’t cope. In the case of undergraduate courses, most parents prefer their children to study in colleges closer to their hometown. But it may not be the wiser choice. Distance shouldn’t make any difference. Training is really important. Moreover, before making a choice, they should do a little homework about the institute on the internet as plenty of information is available. The second important aspect is language. In medicine, you need to talk to patients. If you can’t talk to a patient, you can’t examine him or her. At AIIMS Bhubaneswar, we start teaching Odia students in the first year itself.
What would you advise to students who couldn’t crack NEET this year? Also, what should be the right approach for preparing for NEET?
You must assess how committed you are to doing medicine. People look at the medical profession as something glamorous. But a lot of hard work goes into this stream. So, if a student is not keen on medicine for genuine reasons, I would suggest they can opt for other streams. Those who are really dedicated should definitely take another chance because you are in a better position as you have taken the test once. During preparation, you should stay healthy. Often, students are unable to cope with the outside world after they have cracked it because they have been so focused during the preparation and cut them off from every other contact. Make sure you take a walk and speak to people.
