These are people who overlook their lives to learn how to save ours. We know them as doctors.
For someone who belongs to a family of doctors, the journey and experiences of being a doctor are a routine dinner-table conversation. For others, it might not be an everyday discussion, but dreams of both types of people remain similar.
Medicine is one of the most inspiring, challenging and rewarding fields a student can aspire to enter. But before one decides whether this field is the right choice for them, they must know every little detail of the journey.
The start of the journey: Career outlook
The journey to becoming a doctor starts with high school: preparation time, investments, hard work and time. A lot of planning is required if one wishes to choose this career. Medicine is an extremely competitive and demanding field: the would-be doctors have a lot of responsibility and have to spend a great deal of time and money on their training. Healthcare is also a budding field, which means that the demand for doctors will continue to rise in the years to come.
This virtuous profession requires utmost dedication right from the start, from the courses one opts for to the colleges one dreams for.
Not just a degree
The training for becoming a doctor is not only limited to a degree, it constantly challenges a person’s patience and sense of commitment. “Being a doctor offers the most complete and constant union of three qualities which have the greatest charm for pure and active minds – novelty, utility, and charity”, as put together by Sir James Paget, an English surgeon.
In India, around 1.2 million doctors are registered with IMC (Indian Medical Council), out of which around 370-400K are specialists.
If a student wants to pursue this honourable profession, they need to complete high school with the stream PCB (Physics, Chemistry and Biology). Thereafter, students must go through NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) for admission into various MBBS, BDS and veterinary science programs. The ranking in the NEET exam will decide a candidate’s eligibility for taking admissions in various programs and colleges. These programs are discussed below:
- MBBS: Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, is an undergraduate cum basic degree which is required to become a doctor i.e., this degree acts as a gateway to the field of medicine. The duration for this degree is five and a half years which concludes with a compulsory internship.
- BDS: Bachelor of Dental Surgery, the most desirable course after MBBS and is the only approved professional dental course in India i.e., a compulsory course for those students who want to work as dentists in government and private hospitals. The duration of the course is five years.
- Bachelor of Veterinary Science: A 5.5 year-long course meant for those students who want to deal with the health and well-being of animals.
How To Become Doctor Without NEET
Apart from NEET, some colleges like AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), JawaharLal Nehru Medical College, Maulana Azad Medical College etc. offer their entrance exams.
Many sources can be beneficial for students to strengthen their medical preparation like for example standard books, e-learning platforms like speedlabs.in which uses artificial intelligence to provide highly engaging practice sessions to ensure in-depth learning.
Specializations
After their MBBS degree, students must opt for a master’s course to specialize in a particular field of medicine. The most common exam for the post-graduation is NEET-PG, an examination for students who want to study Doctor of Medicine (MD), Master of Surgery (MS) and other diploma courses.
Some interesting specializations include:
- Pediatricians, specializing in treating children
- Allergists, highly trained in internal medicine, help in preventing diseases related to any allergy
- Gynecologists provide care and prevention/disease management for diseases related to female reproductive health, pregnancy etc.
- Cardiologists, doctors who specialize in heart-related diseases and their prevention
- Endocrinologists treat disorders related to conditions that affect the endocrine system (related to the release of various hormones of the body)
Every year millions of students dream to become a doctor because of many reasons, some of which are listed below:
- incessant learning opportunities
- high job security
- high positive impact because saving the life of someone is very satisfactory
- profession carries enormous respect and trust
- the profession offers a good salary and has a high employment rate
Key Takeaways
We are in a pandemic, and we are witnesses of how the doctors and nurses from this noble profession came forward to our rescue. No better time to realize the responsibility that comes along with this profession. To all the future doctors, good luck and we trust you will make our future safe and healthy.
Also published on Medium.