The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : PG medical students could be offered rural postings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 30, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

PG medical students could be offered rural postings

Staff Reporter

Doctors must be taught skills to ensure normal birth, says official "Medical students must be taught the skill to ensure normal birth and methods to prevent surgery by taking up preventive methods during labour and childbirth."

CHENNAI: With the Government focusing on healthcare in rural and remote areas, students who finish post graduation may be given rural posting for a consolidated pay, said Health Minister N. Thalavai Sundaram at the inauguration of the second international conference on urogynaecology recently.

Citing the example of Valparai in Coimbatore, where four doctors had been posted temporarily, he said more than Rs. 500 crores had been allotted to improve taluk and non-taluk hospitals.

He urged students to make full use of the state-of-the art equipment at Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital's (KGH) urogynaecology ward.

Sheela Rani Chunkath, Health Secretary, who received the first copies of two CDs on teaching guide to urogynaecological problems, called on doctors to address the problem holistically. She urged doctors to look at preventive aspects. Of late, surgical intervention had become the norm during childbirth, she said.

"We have become more aggressive in our way of delivering of babies. We need to tell students when surgeries are necessary." Medical students must be taught the skill to ensure normal birth and methods to prevent surgery by taking up preventive methods during labour and childbirth. Since 96 per cent of the babies were born in hospitals, she urged gynaecologists to be trendsetters in preventing urogynaecological disorders.

A two-year post-doctoral fellowship programme in urogynaecology has been created at the hospital. Students with DNB/M.Ch (urology) or M.D./M.S. (obstetrics or gynaecology) would be eligible for the programme.

The Urogynaecology Department at KGH is the tertiary centre in the State for urogynaecological problems. The fistula ward has treated more than 500 women since its inception some years ago. Some 2,300 major and minor procedures had been done so far, said N. Rajamaheswari of the department. V. Madhani, superintendent of KGH, P. Vijayalakshmi, director of medical education and Kalavathi Ponniraivan, Dean of Madras Medical College also took part in the conference.

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