KOCHI: The first round of NEET postgraduate seat allotments has revealed an interesting shift in preference, with students increasingly opting for general medicine (GM) over the more recently popular radiodiagnosis. While medical professionals view the trend as encouraging, the drop in interest for obstetrics and gynaecology has emerged as a cause for concern.
In Keralam, of the 1,050 students who were allotted seats in the first round, only 88 chose obstetrics and gynaecology. At the national level, only one of the top 100 rank holders chose the mutually complementary specialties. While as many as 120 students opted for GM in Keralam, 50 of those on the national top 100 list chose the stream. The concurrent radiodiagnosis numbers stood at 62 in the state and 29 at the national level.
“More number of students choosing general medicine is a positive factor,” said P K Sasikumar, retired head of internal medicine at Kozhikode MCH. “However, a primary analysis has indicated that many hope to migrate abroad and that general medicine allows them to divert to other branches once they move out,” he said.
Sasikumar said for over 15 years, the main choice of top rankholders were branches like radiodiagnosis, and that a change in the same should be appreciated. The growing use of AI in radiodiagnosis has also raised concerns among students about their career prospects, he added.
