The state of Madhya Pradesh may be the first to offer textbooks in Hindi to medical students, but other regional languages will soon be used to teach medicine across the nation. The High Powered Committee for Promotion of Indian Languages under the Ministry of Education has already begun discussions with the National Medical Commission(NMC), state medical councils, medical universities and colleges, and also doctors and professors, on preparing medical syllabus in Hindi and other regional languages.
Chamu Krishna Shastry, the committee’s chairman, stated that Dr. Sudha Seshayyan M.S., vice chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, has already begun preparing a glossary on medical terms in Tamil. He added that on October 16 the nation’s first MBBS syllabus in Hindi will be made available to students by Home Minister Amit Shah. He expressed hope that additional states will follow the suit.
“They (MP) have prepared textbooks for first-year MBBS students. They are working on preparing the rest of the medical course books. The main aim is to bring medical textbooks in Hindi and other regional languages,” Shastry said. While teaching in English will continue, students will have the option to study both in Hindi and their regional language.
The initiative’s idea is that 90% of patients don’t know English. “A large section of the students also come after having studied in their mother tongue, and all of a sudden, when they start medical education in English medium they find it difficult to comprehend medical language,” Shastry added. “Students from rural areas would like to work in their hometowns or villages. So we will be able to create a workforce catering to rural healthcare facilities. The quality of the books won’t be compromised,” Shastry further said.
Dr. Rohan Krishnan, president of the FAIMA Doctors Association, said that it will affect the students adversely.
“Teaching MBBS in Hindi is a regressive step. Hyper Nationalism is the root cause. Tomorrow, they will demand to launch it in Sanskrit, but what’s the point of writing English words in Devnagari script for political agenda? NMC is a complete failure”, Dr. Furquan Ahmad, former joint secretary of the Resident Doctors Association, RML, said.
