Unlike other countries in the World, MCI regulates a centralized curriculum for the undergraduate and post-graduate courses. In the US and UK, deciding the medical curriculum is the prerogative of the Universities. Medicine has a vast and comparatively wider array of subjects to be studied. These subjects have both clinical and non-clinical distinctions. In undergraduate studies, the students are exposed different subjects, which are divided based on the hours of lectures, case studies and practical hours. The sole dependence of the undergraduate students rest on their respective professors, who remain busy practitioners burdened with administrative duties. This makes it very difficult for the students to get their queries and doubts cleared. The non-clinical departments like Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology and Microbiology, where theory is emphasised, are being slowly phased out in the West; replaced by elements of genetics and molecular biology but nearly 1480 course hours have been dedicated by the MCI for the practicals in such subjects. Is it worth it? This uneven and insufficient cocktail of subject-exposure deprives the students of both clinical and research expertise.

doi : 10.5214/ans.0972.7531.210102