Teaching MBBS in Hindi 'detrimental, not viable', doctors say: Report

Doctors also questioned teachers' ability to teach the course in Hindi, as they have been taught in English

Uttarakhand education minister Dhan Singh Rawat's announcement that the state will begin MBBS courses in Hindi has drawn criticism from doctors, who say the use of the language would be 'detrimental'.

While Rawat claimed that the courses in Hindi would help students from that background to compete with students from English-medium schools, Dr Arun Kumar Gupta, president of the Delhi Medical Council, said the vocabulary of MBBS is completely based on English, whereas Ayurveda follows the Indian vocabulary system.

“Most books that are a part of the modern medical education have been written and published in the west, by default, in the English language. The medium of instruction can be changed to Hindi but it is not possible to change the academic vocabulary of the MBBS curriculum. Even if the books are translated, almost all reputable research papers and journals are published in English,” Gupta told The Indian Express.

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Saying that teaching MBBS entirely in Hindi would be 'detrimental,' Dr Aloy Mukherjee of the Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals told the publication that medical education in any regional language has a longstanding disadvantage as the graduates have to work wherever their services are required.

“It is only going to pull us down. Hindi as the medium of language can be added as an adjunct but to have the entire course completely in Hindi is going to be detrimental. MBBS is not a basic degree course as a student has to apply everything in situations that require life risks. Doctors cannot be held to serve only in one particular region and they would like to explore other opportunities. The graduates will also not be eligible to go out of India and pursue higher education, fellowship, or research,” Mukherjee said.

It's not just students, however, who doctors were concerned about. Dr Amit Gupta, a professor AIIMS Rishikesh, raised concerns about the inability of teachers to teach MBBS in Hindi.

“When we were students, we also took all our classes in English. In the entire country, there is not a single college which is conducting classes in Hindi or any other regional language. The teachers, by default, are trained to teach in English as they’ve also been taught in the same language. So, if the course has to be launched in Hindi, then the teachers will also have to be trained along with translating the entire syllabus, which is going to be a tedious process,” Gupta said.

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Another doctor said that teaching the course in Hindi is not viable in contemporary times as there are no medical books in the language, and suggested that the Uttarakhand government should focus on making AYUSH, which is already in the Hindi language, more resonant with modern medicine and also increase the R&D budget.

Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh government is all set to start the MBBS course in Hindi in Bhopal's Gandhi Medical College from the next academic session, according to state Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang.