No takers for MMC courses

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A premiere institute for treatment and higher learning, the two century-old Madras Medical College (MMC) is struggling to find enough takers for even super specialty courses like Neonatology, which would easily cost a crore in a private institution.

Even those taking admission in other super specialties are not young and aspiring researchers. MMC sources attributed this deterioration or poor patronage to lack of literature, particularly decades of patients’ records in the departments to support research.

In fact, only one person has been admitted to DM (Neonatology) super specialty, against the sanctioned strength of eight seats this year.

Like in Neonatology, case sheets are not maintained at Neurology, Neuro-surgery, medical Gasteroenterology, Nephrology and Rheumatology departments as well, said sources, citing it as a major deterrent to PG medicos overlooking MMC.

The Nephrology super specialty unit, which has done 1026 organ transplants in the last year, has not been maintaining case sheets for nearly six months now.

Once admired by doctors from Kerala and Andhra for its excellent documentation system, MMC, which registers one lakh patients every year and performs a few thousand surgeries every month, is overlooked by PG medicos or aspiring researchers these days, said a senior MMC doctor.

“After recuperation or death, a patient’s case sheet goes to the records department. Will it be possible for a researcher to rummage lakhs of files in the records department after several years?” wondered another doctor.

Admitting to lack of case sheets for a few months, an HoD preferring anonymity said maintenance of case history sheets was not mandatory and it did not affect the treatment quality.

He quickly added that they had asked the Government Press to replace the old case sheets and supply them new model comprehensive case history sheets.

Case history recorded in books

Holding his father’s hand for support, Mr Ramesh, 23, a native of Tiruvarur, was slowly entering MMC campus with a notebook in his hand.

He is one of the few hundred patients whose case history is recorded in a small notebook for want of case history sheets at the hospital.

MMC surgeons preferring anonymity said that patients’ treatment history is recorded in the 80-page notebooks and the actual case history goes to the records department, apparently leaving documents for reference at the department.

“Most patients frequenting MMC are poor and some outpatients lose the notebook (case history) in which their history is recorded, forcing the hospital to redo some diagnosis,” surgeons pointed out, adding that the number of research papers appearing in international and national journals from MMC had also declined phenomenally in recent years.

However, senior MMC doctors claimed that they published over 600 papers in the e-journal published by Dr MGR Medical University and reviewed by over 300 professors in the state.

Stating that they offer a grant of `1 lakh per PG medico for medical research, a senior study board member of the varsity wondered what else was required to promote research.