Reinstate study of respiratory med on essential list: Experts

MADURAI: The decision of the Undergraduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) of the National Medical Commission to remove respiratory medicine from the list of essential departments in medical colleges is a matter of grave concern for all with far-reaching public health consequences.

The World Health Organisation reports that respiratory diseases are the number one killer of mankind. In the last decade, the incidence of respiratory diseases has gone up by more than 200 per cent and it’s ever increasing. Nearly 40 per cent of the patients in any clinic or in the out-patient departments of any hospital present with complaints of at least one or more respiratory symptoms. Training in respiratory medicine is therefore essential to impart knowledge, skill and expertise to all MBBS students to render them capable of treating such patients with a reasonable standard of care , A Sankar, founder, Global Asthma Community Forum, said on Wednesday.

Citing these, he sought the intervention of Union Health Minister Mansukh L Mandaviya to reconsider the decision and reinstate Respiratory Medicine as one of the essential departments for the undergraduate medical curriculum in the interest of quality-assured medical education and public health.