DR NATASHA DESHPANDE, based in Belagavi, Karnataka, recently completed her MBBS from the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in the city and is now planning to pursue MD in the US. She feels that the proposed MD-PhD five-year course that will be offered by the upcoming IISc School of Medicine and Bagchi-Parthasarathy Hospital, Bengaluru, will be a big help to medical students.
“To get both MD and PhD, it generally takes seven years after MBBS,” she said. “Also, in the proposed MD-PhD programme, the student has to submit just one thesis. Now, it is one during MD and one during PhD.” She added that an MD and PhD together will provide more options to choose from for the thesis and will also make more topics available for research.
At present, she said, students who are keen on research have to look for opportunities abroad and this may contribute to brain drain. “The initiative taken by these philanthropists at IISc Bangalore will bring everything under one roof and will make a great difference in the lives of the students as well as the future of India,” she added. “Post MD-PhD, there would be multiple career paths that would open up for a student. They can pursue advanced research, they can become an academician, or they can become a practitioner. This programme will open up new possibilities to students who were interested in research but could not afford to go abroad.” Such a programme will increase the research mindset of the new generation of students who pass out of medical colleges, said Deshpande.