Telangana: Ortho doctors seek place in MBBS text

Hyderabad: Increasing accident cases demand better trauma care in which orthopaedics is one of the most important ones, said experts of the Telangana Orthopaedic Surgeons Association at a conference in the city.

Statistics show that more than 20 people are injured in road accidents daily, most of them requiring orthopaedic care.

The subject is covered only in postgraduate programmes, which is proving to be a handicap.

Dr K.J. Reddy, president of TOSA explained, “We need to have orthopaedics as a separate subject in undergraduate training of medical students. It is only a part of surgery in the first five-years and that is doing a lot of injustice as we have a large number of patients and trauma care is emerging as an important aspect where the requirement is very high.”

Orthopaedics want the subject to be taught separately at the undergraduate level. A request for the same has been made to the Medical Council of India to look into this demand.

Experts state that in the past pediatrics was a part of general medicine but was delinked due to the care required for children. Dr P. Sudhir Kumar, secretary explained, “With trauma care being a large requirement in the country, it is important to meet the demand by giving the required training in the undergraduate years. In this way, a lot of facilities in the country can benefit from expert care.”

Currently, orthopaedics visit trauma care centres on request. A senior doctor said, “If undergraduate students are taught the basics of orthopaedics, stabilising the patients would be easy.”