Punjab: Limited seats in Indian medical colleges, better lifestyle and job satisfaction abroad are the main reasons behind undergraduate students pursuing medical education abroad. A nationwide survey on the preference of Indian undergraduate medical students to go abroad for higher studies and residency was conducted by the Department of Surgery and Department of Internal Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana; medical students from the Department of Pediatrics, KB Bhabha Hospital, Mumbai; DMCH, Ludhiana; and Department of Physiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Deoghar, Jharkhand. Indian undergraduate medical students of all professional years, including those doing internship, were surveyed. Of the 1,199 participants, including 51.1% males and 48.9% females, 45% had planned to continue their residency abroad, while 33.8% wanted to stay in India and 21.2% were undecided.
Better lifestyle and higher pay grades abroad were seen as the most significant deterrents to staying back in India and considered a major influencer in decision-making among the maximum number (412 or 76.3%) of students. On the other hand, 58.2% of the participants said they wanted to stay back in India to take care of their parents. The survey concluded that countries with better healthcare facilities and better income attract medical students. The survey found that awareness among medical teachers about constantly changing curriculum, shift to a competency-based education system, better pay grades, limited working hours and measures to reduce violence at workplace can help prevent brain drain among Indian medical students and graduates. “Medical students pursue higher education abroad for several major reasons, including high-quality education, affordable tuition and global career opportunities. Limited seats and high competition in home countries also motivate many to seek opportunities abroad.
Additionally, studying abroad offers unique cultural exposure and a chance to learn from diverse medical systems,” said Harleen, who recently moved to the US to pursue her PG in medicine. Every country has both good and bad aspects, but understanding the conditions is the biggest challenge. When a student is about to choose a country to study medicine, he or she has to understand and evaluate all the good and bad aspects of that country and college. Many factors play an important role in the future of a medical student, such as choice of institute and education system, values and examination pattern, discipline, culture of the country and budget. It is very important to make the right decision. A professor from a medical college said that students, parents and the Indian government need to be more cautious about foreign medical colleges, especially dubious colleges. Policies should be formulated for foreign institutions to ensure quality of teaching and training, with a provision to limit the number of Indian students admitted each year. This will not only enhance the required knowledge and skills of foreign medical graduates but will also bridge the huge gap in the doctor-to-patient ratio set by the World Health Organization.
