Online teaching doesn't work in medical education

Hyderabad: Uncertainty prevails over the resumption of MBBS classes in medical colleges in the State. Kaloji Health University officials stated that MCI has to take a call on re-opening of classes in all medical colleges in the country including Telangana. However, private medical colleges have already started the online mode of teaching.

Theory classes are being run through online mode. Kaloji University has not given any directions in this regard. Colleges, individually, are following their own procedures and they have given the freedom to teaching faculty to conduct classes in co-ordination with medicos from second to final year.

However, the principal of a government medical college stated that the online mode of teaching does not work for medical education. Here practical knowledge is most important apart from theoretical knowledge. In the majority professional courses, theory knowledge will be more than enough but the same cannot be said when it comes to medical education, he said.

"Bedside training, examining patients, and talking to them in person to get an idea of what treatment they require are all possible only through offline teaching. And this all not possible in online mode," the principal pointed out.

According to the principal, students will be at a loss if they are promoted to next class without having clinical experience. It remains to be seen how MCI goes about this issue. If syllabus will be condensed then to what extent it will be done so that medicos study is not affected are all that has to be addressed," the principal added.

On the other confusion persists regarding the annual exams for first-year MBBS students from the 2019-20 batch. They were slated to write exams in July, but that had to put off due to the corona pandemic. Annual exams for second, third, and final year students are held in January and February every year, and it is very unlikely that they will be held on time this year.