VIJAYAWADA: Indian Medical Association (IMA), Andhra Pradesh chapter, has opposed the decision of the Madhya Pradesh government to teach MBBS course in the Hindi language. In a press release, IMA- AP State president Dr C Srinivasa Raju said that despite the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) earlier warning of not recognising MBBS education imparted in Hindi medium, the MP government has announced introducing the same in Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal from the next academic session i.e. from 2022-2023. The confirmation regarding this was given by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, he said.
Dr Raju said going against the National Education Policy to promote mother tongue in technical education, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has said there is no plan to teach medicine courses in Hindi or any other regional language, including Odia.
The medical education regulator said, “It will not amend norms to allow MBBS courses in languages other than English. The NMC clarification came after a recent announcement by the Madhya Pradesh government to offer MBBS and paramedical courses in Hindi. The Uttar Pradesh government had also expressed a similar intent.”
Explaining why IMA is 0pposing the move to teach MBBS in regional languages, Dr Raju said almost all reputable research papers and journals are published in English and there are concerns about the inability of teachers to teach MBBS in Hindi.
The teachers, by default, are trained to teach in English as they have also been taught in the same language. So, if the course has to be launched in Hindi, then the teachers will also have to be trained along with translating the entire syllabus, which is going to be a tedious process, he said.
Elaborating further, he said colleges may teach students from North India in Hindi, but what about students belonging to Southern or north-eastern states? “In India, students migrate from one State to another for medical education as the top institutes are scattered and situated across the country,” he said. Medical education in Hindi or any regional language has a longstanding disadvantage as the graduates have to work wherever their services are required.