Docs criticise NMC's move to exclude respiratory medicine from undergrad courses
Hyderabad:Increasing concerns over respiratory illnesses caused by new strains of viruses and pollution have made doctors criticise the decision of the National Medical Council (NMC), more than a year old, to remove respiratory medicine from its list of essential departments for undergraduate courses.
The NMC had excluded respiratory medicine from the list of mandatory departments for new medical colleges. The Indian Chest Society has repeatedly criticised the move since then, considering the worsening air quality in major cities and increased load of respiratory illnesses — not to forget that India is still grappling with tuberculosis (TB) and drug-resistant TB.
"Scientific evidence shows a strong connection between air pollution and respiratory ailments — both acute and chronic. Air pollution affects lung development in infants — those exposed early in life show an increased risk of asthma later on," noted Dr Soumya Parimi, senior consultant pulmonologist at Apollo Hospitals.
"Prolonged exposure to air pollution can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). For people with pre-existing asthma or other lung ailments such as COPD, their symptoms could worsen during periods of increased air pollution (such as Diwali) coupled with cold air. High levels of air pollution can also increase your risk of pneumonia and respiratory viral infections such as influenza," she added.
Amid increased crises in respiratory healthcare, doctors have called the medical body's decision "immature". "This decision is the most immature and unwarranted, considering we still have not got over Covid-19 completely and with the potential threat of H5N1 avian influenza looming large. Reports of a mysterious respiratory virus are coming as the cause of the deaths of 143 people in Congo" said Dr Vyakarnam Nageshwar, pulmonologist and president of the World Allergy Foundation.
“The respiratory system is the main root of entry for any virus, bacteria or fungal. The decision is unpardonable. Even the undergraduates are in touch with patients as part of their internship and they interact with patients coming with respiratory illnesses. They need to be taught how to deal with those cases," said Dr Nageshwar.
Contrarily, Dr G. Paramjyothi, dean of the pulmonology department at Nizam's Institute of Medicine Sciences, said that the students have the opportunity to study respiratory medicine as part of general medicine in their final year of the undergraduate programme and then in PG if they want to take it up as a super specialty.
