Increasing copying of review/research articles among Indian Pharmacy Students

In India more and more professionals, specially students of mainly UG and PG level are interested in publishing review or research article in their name either due to personal interest or by pressure from the institutional guide.This situation of increasing awareness of publishing the original work is definitely a great boon to Indian research scenario, but the underlying fraud of doing plagiarism is lowering the worthiness of Indian research work, we are losing our credibility and the same can be seen in the increasing cases of rejected articles from Indian authors who conducted research work in less known institutes in India.

Its not only students that are responsible for this fraud work, but also the faculty,university, journals editors and reviewers,publishers etc. all in some way a part of this. 
we surely need to have some concrete measures taken to stop this cheating process.The irnoy is that most of the persons doing this dont even have any knowledge that its not a good practice. Indian Universities and regulatory bodies concerning this should take plagiarism seriously.Awareness should be generated among the students as they mostly dont even know what they are doing.

Please come and share your views on how this plagiarism is increasing,factors responsible and more importantly how it can be eradicated

REFERENCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_dishonesty)

                                                                                                             - Sai kumar Katam,PharmD.

Medication Errors.

 
 Most health care professionals have learned the “five right” of safe medication use:

1. The right patient
2. The right drug
3. The right time
4. The right dose
5. The right route of administration                                                                                                                               

Problems arise due to negligence or insufficient knowledge about putting the five rights into practice leading to “medication errors”. These can be minor, life threatening, dangerous or death causing.
Following errors are seen in daily practice:
1.       Prescribing error:
This is the type of error or mistake is the one caused by incorrect drug selections, dose, dosage form, quantity, route, concentration, rate of administration, instructions, illegible prescriptions or medication orders.
2.       Omission error:
This type of error is caused by total lack of responsibility of a pharmacist that is failure to administer an ordered dose to a patient before the next scheduled dose.
3.       Wrong time error:
This type of error is the one which is caused when a pharmacist administer a medication outside a predefined time interval from its scheduled administered time.
4.       Unauthorized drug error:
This is the mistake caused when a pharmacist administer medication to the patient from an illegal prescriber for the patients.
5.       Improper dose error:
This error occurs when a patient have been administered such a dose that is greater than or less than the amount mentioned by the prescriber or administration of duplicate doses.
6.       Wrong dosage form error:
This is due to any miscommunication or careless behavior of a pharmacist or nurse that is giving the patient a different dosage form than the one prescribed.
7.       Wrong drug preparation error:
This is the error completely caused by pharmacists’ lack of attention or information like if he formulates an incorrect drug product or it is degraded before administration.
8.       Wrong administration technique  error:
This is the problem caused by inappropriate procedure or improper technique in the administration of a drug.
9.       Deteriorated drug error:
This is the drug error caused by administration of a drug that has expired or physical or chemical dosage form integrity. Error occurs due to the irresponsible behavior of medical staff that causes dangerous effects.
10.   Monitoring error:
This is the mistake on part of a pharmacist in reviewing lab or clinical data for the assessment of condition of the patient to check whether he/she is improving or not. A Pharmacist must be much aware of these things.

Conclusion:
So to avoid these errors and further more complications which can be arise because of these, the pharmacist or any medical staff should devote him/her to this life saving profession. He/she should have to gain knowledge to its highest point and should achieve a level equal to that of a doctor in a society. It is also vital that the pharmacist devote careful attention to dispensing process and gain proper knowledge about all the methods to ensure that errors are not introduced at that point in the medication process. If needed a pharmacist should cooperate and seek help with a prescriber to maintain proper chain of treatments of patients through right medicines by right way.

Using information technology to reduce rates of medication errors in hospitals

Medication errors is one of the many things that we should be careful in monitoring because us as pharmacists, are probably the most important health practitioner working with medications, and medication errors is the one part that should never exist in our environment. This article explain the use of information technology to reduce the rates of errors in hospitals.

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E-Prescribing

E-prescribing Overview:
E-prescribing has been described as the solution to improved patient safety and reducing sky-rocketing medication costs. It is estimated that approximately 7,000 deaths occur each year in the United States due to medication errors. These errors are predominately due to hand-writing illegibility, wrong dosing, missed drug-drug or drug-allergy reactions. With approximately 3 billion prescriptions written annually, which constitutes one of the largest paper-based processes in the United States, the writing of prescriptions can be streamlined and efficient by using an e-prescribing system.

What is e-prescribing?
E-prescribing is simply an electronic way to generate prescriptions through an automated data-entry process utilizing e-prescribing software and a transmission network which links to participating pharmacies.

1. Improved patient safety and overall quality of care:
   • Illegibility from hand-written prescriptions is eliminated, decreasing the risk of medication errors and decreasing liability risks.
   • Warning and Alert systems are provided at the point of prescribing: It has been documented that medication errors are often the result of inadequate access to current drug reference information. E-prescribing systems can provide an overall medication management process through drug utilization review (DUR) programs. DUR programs perform checks against the patient's current medications for drug-drug interactions, drug-allergy interactions, diagnoses, body weight, age, drug appropriateness, correct dosing; contraindications, adverse reactions, duplicate therapy alert etc. and alerts the provider if interactions are found. E-prescribing software can also include such drug reference software programs as ePocrates Rx. Pro and the PDR.
   • Access to patient's medical history. Knowing the patient's medical history at the time of prescribing can serve as an alert to drug inappropriateness.
2. Reduces or eliminates phone calls and call-backs to pharmacies. Physician offices receive over 150 million call-backs from pharmacies with questions, clarifications and refill requests. According to HIMSS article on e-prescribing under Topics and Tools at their website almost 30 percent of the 3 billion prescriptions written annually require a call backs. This equals 900 million prescription-related telephone calls annually1. Medco® Health Solutions, Inc. conducted a survey in 2003 of Boston area physicians and 88 percent of those surveyed said they, or their staff, spend almost one-third of their time responding to phone calls from pharmacies regarding prescriptions. Medco reported that one practitioner in the survey indicated that in a time study of his four physician practice, the average phone call between a pharmacist and practitioner lasted eight minutes and was costing his practice more than $200 per week in wasted staff time2. These call-backs interrupt office flow and reduce productivity related to chart-pulls, re-filing charts, follow-up calls, faxing prescriptions etc.
3. Eliminates faxes to pharmacies.
4. Streamlines the refill's requests and authorization processes. Refill authorization from the pharmacy can be a completely automated process and refills can usually be generated in one click. The pharmacist generates a refill request/authorization that is delivered through the network to the provider's system, the provider then reviews the request, approves or denies the refill and the pharmacy system is immediately updated.
5. Increases patient compliance. It is estimated that 20% of paper-based prescription orders go unfilled by the patient. E-prescribing systems expedite the filling of prescription at the pharmacy and drug literature can be printed for patients as well.
6. Improves Formulary adherence. By checking with healthcare formularies at point-of-care, generic substitutions and generic first-line therapy choices are encouraged thus reducing patient costs.
7. Increases patient convenience by reducing patient trips to the pharmacy and reducing wait times.
8. Offers true Provider Mobility Full mobility can be attained when using a wireless network to write or authorize prescriptions anytime from anywhere.
9. Improves reporting ability. Query reporting may be performed which would be impossible with a paper prescription system. Common examples of such reporting would be: finding all patients who have had a particular medication prescribed to them during a drug recall, the frequency of medication prescribed by certain providers etc..

Note: controlled substances are currently not permitted to be filled via electronic means. If a user attempts to send a controlled substance electronically - a system message informs the user that this medication can not be filled this way and offers options to print or fax.

What your practice needs to do to get started e-prescribing:

1. Decide whether you wish to choose a stand-alone e-prescription software or a full EMR system which includes e-prescribing functionality.
2. Choose an e-prescribing software vendor. The e-prescribing vendor will need to utilize a company which supplies the electronic prescribing network (hub or gateway for transmissions). There are a few different e-prescription networking companies. Among the industry leaders are SureScripts (http://surescripts.com/), RxHub (http://www.rxhub.net/index.html), and ProxyMed (http://www.proxymed.com/). It is unlikely that physicians would have any reason to have direct contact with the electronic networking vendor. SureScripts, the nation's largest electronic prescribing network, provides a true, seamless electronic connection between physician offices and pharmacies. This network provides secure and reliable two-way transmissions between physicians and pharmacies. More than 85% of chain and independent pharmacies have tested and certified their systems to connect to the SureScript electronic prescribing network.
3. Install an internet connection; high speed is highly recommended.
4. Purchase hardware such as desktop PC's, laptops, pocket PC's, tablet PC's , PDA's utilizing a wired or wireless network.

References:

1. HIMSS – e-prescribing article under website
2. Medco® Health Solutions, Inc. – News and Pressroom article on 2/7/2003
   "Boston Area Physicians Embrace E-Prescribing Technology as a Tool To Improve Healthcare".

The Pharm.D. investigator in clinical pharmacology: supply and demand.

Abstract

Figg WD.
© Copyright ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The field of clinical pharmacology is the discipline engaged in optimal drug discovery, development, and use, based on an in-depth knowledge of human pharmacology and therapeutics. Although many think clinical pharmacology is simply the study of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacogenetics, the role of the clinical pharmacologists covers all avenues of drug discovery, development, therapeutics, optimal drug therapy, and education. This expanded understanding is important as we start to address the overwhelming mandate and the unfortunate shortage of qualified investigators in the field (both physicians and non-physicians).

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Pharmaceutical care should have key role in healthcare planning system: Pharm D interns

Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai

Like medical care and nursing care, the concept of pharmaceutical care should have a predominant role in the healthcare planning system as it is a part of the drug therapy assessment, opined a group of Pharm D interns of the Raghavendra Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (RIPER), Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh. According to them this concept has originated in 1990 with the establishment of International Pharmaceutical Federation and it is known in USA as medication therapy management and in Australia as drug action plan. The students have made a research study on the emerging concept of pharmaceutical care. “This concept has opened new ways for pharmacists to establish their presence and prove their mettle in the healthcare team. Further it has made a space for the pharmacists to get involved in taking a better clinical decision by giving better treatment options to the physicians in order to deliver better treatment outcome,” said SKR Sowmya, a Pharm D intern. Their study reveals that pharmaceutical care planning is a systematic, comprehensive process with three primary functions such as identifying the patient's actual and potential drug-related problems, resolving the problems and prevent the problems. It involves a stepwise approach in assessing the drug therapy given to the patient and pharmaceutical related problems emerging out of it. It is the responsible provision of drug therapy for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes that improve a patient’s quality of life. The pharmacist is responsible for achieving the desired outcomes at all levels of pharmaceutical care. According to another intern, A Srinath, the concept of pharmaceutical care extends itself to other aspects of pharmacy practice including traditional and clinical pharmacy. It has its own uniqueness over clinical pharmacy, patient counselling and pharmaceutical services. A standardized method for the provision of pharmaceutical care includes collecting and organizing patient-specific information, determining the presence of medication-therapy problems, summarizing patient’s health care needs, specifying pharmaco-therapeutic goals, design and develop a pharmaco-therapeutic regimen, develop a monitoring plan in collaboration with the patient and other health professionals, documentation of pharmaceutical care... etc. The view point of N Sreelalitha, a Pharm D intern, who also associated in the study, is that the focused areas of practice where the pharmacists are being exclusively recognized are in drug monitoring, disease monitoring and drug/ disease management by protocol. The clinical skills and activities by pharmacist in pharmaceutical care include patient assessment, patient education and counselling, patient- specific pharmacist care plan and drug- treatment protocols.

Pharm.D -The new era of pharmacy profession

What is Pharm.D ?

Product to patient is the slogan of PharmD.India was emerging as a major destination for medical tourism,clinical research and new drug development.It was both opportunity and threat to the pharmacy profession.Opportunity in terms of the influx of revenue and threat because of the expected knowledge ,expertise, competence and innovation skill from the pharmacist,who constitutes one of the core resources of the health care team an was fully equipped.Besides Indian graduate seeking oversees opportunities suddenly found that their qualification was no longer recognized for practising in certain countries,Thus their dreams are curtailed.This was present qualification did not provide training to the pharmacists to meet the ever changing needs of health care profession.

IPA president Dr.B.Suresh gives above valuable guidelines about PharmD.He also enlightened the jobs opportunity that with so many clinical research management projects coming to the India there is a huge job potential in waiting for PharmD professionals.At the end he conclude that PharmD programme will equip our pharmacy professional and provide them with much needed intellectual capital to compete with the world pharmacy professionals.

Jobs for Pharm.D Professionals

There so many clinical research management projects coming to the India there is a huge job potential in waiting for PharmD professionals.

Pain Medication Overdose Fatalities Continue to Increase, CDC Reports

More than 40 people die every day due to overdoses involving prescription pain medications, stresses a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vital Signs report released in November 2011. The report indicates that the death rate from overdoses of drugs such as hydrocodone (Vicodin^®), methadone, oxycodone (OxyContin^®), and oxymorphone (Opana^®) has more than tripled in the past decade. CDC Director Thomas Frieden noted that such overdoses “now kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined,” as stated in a CDC press release. Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy, stated that all Americans have a role to play in curbing the prescription pain medication drug abuse trend. Kerlikowske said that “Health care providers and patients should be educated on the risks of prescription painkillers. And parents and grandparents can take time today to properly dispose of any unneeded or expired medications from the home and to talk to their kids about the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs.” The CDC issue brief, “Policy Impact: Prescription Painkiller Overdoses,” includes an overview of the problem on a national scale, as well as a state-by-state breakdown of overdose death rates, and “supports state–based efforts to reduce prescription drug abuse while ensuring patients have access to safe, effective pain treatment.”

Enzyme offers hope in tackling autoimmune disorders: expert

    The Hindu (From left) A.N. Malaviya, former professor of Medicine and chief of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi, S. Rangamani, Vice Chancellor of Sri Ramachandra University and S.P. Thyagarajan, Pro-Chancellor (Research), at an endowment oration in Chennai on Saturday. Photo: S.S. Kumar

Enzyme IDO effective against disorder: A.N. Malaviya

Ongoing research on an enzyme, IDO, has shown a lot of promise in being able to treat autoimmune disorders, A.N. Malaviya, former Professor and Head of Medicine and chief of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology Services, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, said.

IDO, which is present in the peripheral mechanism, is likely to emerge as the drug for the future to control autoimmune diseases, Dr. Malaviya explained. Further research would have to validate these initial results.

Auto immune disorders are caused when the body's immune system begins attacking its own cells, mistaking them to be foreign.

Normally, the immune system can differentiate between self and non-self cells, and is tasked with attacking the latter, which may consist of viruses and bacteria. However, if, at any point, the immune system stops tolerating the body's own tissues, and begins attacking them, then the person develops autoimmune disorder.

He was delivering the First Vice-Chancellor Dr. Lalitha Kameswaran Felicitation Committee Endowment Oration on ‘Recent advances in autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases,' at Sri Ramachandra University here on Saturday.

Dr. Malaviya also indicated that since he set up the Centre for Autoimmune Diseases at the AIIMS, the number of cases had risen steadily. He traced a link between increasing urbanisation, industrialisation, and the resultant pollution increasing the incidence of autoimmune diseases/disorders in the population.

S.P. Thyagarajan, Pro-Chancellor (Research), S. Rangaswami, Vice-Chancellor, S. Anandan, Dean, Medical College of Sri Ramachandra University, and A.N. Chandra Sekaran, chairman, felicitation committee, were among those who spoke. S. Kameswaran, senior ENT surgeon and husband of the late Lalitha Kameswaran, was present.

REFERENCE: http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2541117.ece

PENICILLIN ALLERGEY

PENICILLIN ALLERGEY Penicillin is an antibiotic which is taken in cases of skin rashes and other bacterial infections. It is not used in raw form; instead there are medicines in which penicillin is used as a sole ingredient. But there are seen cases where use of penicillin causes allergenic side effects. Penicillin allergy is caused when allergic reactions are seen due to the overreaction of the body’s immune system towards penicillin antibiotics

Symptoms
The allergic symptoms of penicillin intolerance are common to most allergies. They are listed below.

• Penicillin is used as an antibiotic for curing skin rashes, but sometimes penicillin allergy can itself cause rashes on the superficial skin.
• There are hives seen as side effect allergy of penicillin consumption.
• Along with skin deformities, the eyes and nose also suffer from signs of penicillin allergy. Eyes experience itchiness and burning. They go red. Nasal irritation and runny nose are also symptoms of penicillin allergy.
• If there is oral intake of medicines inclusive of penicillin, then symptoms of its allergy could show swelling in lips and tongue.
• There are red and itchy bumps developed on the facial front as a result of penicillin intolerance.
• The occurrences are rare, but there are cases of penicillin allergy when severities like anaphylaxis are seen. This means that the person has difficulty breathing.
• Symptoms of anaphylaxis include wheezing, dizziness, unconsciousness, weakening of pulse, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and so on.

What makes you more likely to have a severe allergic reaction to penicillin?
Severe allergic reactions to penicillin can be dangerous and life-threatening. You may be more likely to have this type of reaction if you have had:

• A positive skin test for penicillin allergy.
• Hives that appeared quickly after you took the penicillin.
• A previous anaphylactic reaction to penicillin.

If any of these apply to you, you should receive another antibiotic or undergo desensitization
therapy. In this type of therapy, you start taking small amounts of the penicillin and gradually increase how much you take. This lets your immune system "get used to" the medicine, and you may no longer have an allergic reaction. Desensitization may have to be repeated if you have to use the antibiotic again in the future (desensitization doesn't last long).
You are not likely to develop an anaphylactic reaction to penicillin if you have had a rash that looks like measles that appeared from a few hours to days after you took penicillin.

Causes
Allergy is overreaction of immune system to any foreign material. People who are more prone to penicillin allergy are ones belonging to any of the following categories:

• Having had a positive penicillin allergy skin test
• Having hives on the skin within one hour of penicillin consumption
• Having a previous record of penicillin intolerance

· .


Is penicillin allergy common?
· Penicillin antibiotics are the most common cause of drug allergies. Some people who are allergic to penicillin are also allergic to other closely related antibiotics, including cephalosporins, such as cephalexin, cefprozil, and cefuroxime. Ask your pharmacist or doctor about these antibiotics.
· Many people who believe that they have an allergy to penicillin do not. They currently may be less sensitive to penicillin than they once were, or they may have had an adverse reaction, such as a side effect, rather than an allergic reaction. A skin test is the best way to find out whether you have a penicillin allergy
 

Treatments

One treatment of penicillin allergy is immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is a technique in which those allergens are injected in small amount in the patient’s body, from which the patient suffers allergy. This is to make the immune system of the person to get habituated to this kind of material. Same thing could be done in case of penicillin allergy. Initially, small amounts of penicillin are taken and gradually the contents are increased, till the body becomes ignorant to moderate penicillin amounts. Also, epinephrine shots are also used to relieve the signs of penicillin allergies. When a height of discomfort is reached, which does not get cured by epinephrine, anti- histamines as well as corticosteroids can be used for intravenous injection. One can control mild symptoms of penicillin allergy by diluted anti- histamines which do not need to be prescribed. If one is a regular patient of penicillin allergy, then the allergy kit provided to them must be carried along if leaving the residence for a longer period. If conditions are very severe, a doctor must be seen soon.
If you use penicillin and then develop hives and trouble breathing or other symptoms of anaphylaxis, call emergency services immediately.
For emergency treatment, people typically get an epinephrine shot. If symptoms do not go away, you may need more shots. You may also have antihistamines and corticosteroids put directly into a vein (intravenously).
If you have a mild allergic reaction, you may control your symptoms with antihistamines that you can buy without a prescription. But you may need prescription medicine if those over-the-counter medicines don't help or if they cause bothersome side effects, such as drowsiness. If you have had a previous serious reaction to penicillin, you should carry and know how to use an allergy kit, which contains a shot of epinephrine.

Commonness of penicillin allergy
Penicillin is the most common element used in antibiotics. Along with this allergy, many people invite other drug allergies too – like allergies to cephalosporins. And always is the supposed penicillin allergy not what it seems from the symptoms. It may be a temporary reaction, but not penicillin allergy.

What helps?

Minimise the risk by taking great care and being vigilant. If you are food allergic, read labels like Sherlock Holmes: look for the "hidden" allergen. You can easily recognise a packet of peanuts but may miss the word "groundnuts" in tiny print on the side of a tin of curry sauce, or the Latin term arachis used to signify the presence of peanut in pharmaceutical products. If you are food-allergic, be assertive about asking for detailed information from manufacturers and supermarket staff. Be particularly careful in restaurants, where proprietors are under no obligation to list ingredients. Question staff very directly. It may be necessary to speak with a senior manager. Some restaurants have ingredient lists available for you to check. You may wish to telephone the restaurant in advance to ensure your allergy is taken seriously. Be alert to all symptoms and take them seriously. Reach for the adrenaline (epinephrine) if you think you are beginning to show signs of a severe reaction. Do not wait until you are sure. Even if adrenaline is administered, you will still need to get to hospital as soon as possible. Someone must call an ambulance. Make sure others in your family know how to administer the adrenaline kit - and when. Do not be frightened of adrenaline. It is a well-understood drug. The dose you will administer has very few side effects, which will pass quickly in any case. However, if you have heart difficulties, discuss these with your doctor. Develop a crisis plan for how to handle an emergency. Get your allergist or GP to help. Have this written out for family and friends - put it on the bulletin board at home; carry one in your pocket. If a child is the person at risk, make sure his teachers and friends' parents have a copy - along with the adrenaline. Make sure everyone knows where the adrenaline is when you go out, or when you are at home. Wear a Medic Alert talisman Be open about your allergy problem with your family, friends and colleagues. It's easy to avoid a Thai, Chinese or Indian restaurant if everyone knows you are allergic to peanuts.

Penicillin Allergy Is A Serious Problem
Many years ago, people routinely died with infections because penicillin had not been discovered and used by many doctors for their patients. Once this miracle drug was perfected for use by the medical professionals, people lived much longer on average. Most people have taken this medicine at some point in their lives, and they have probably given this to their children and other family members. Although many people benefited from this great drug, there are some people who cannot take this drug because they have a penicillin allergy. This helpful drug can be dangerous for those with a penicillin allergy.
Someone who takes this drug with a penicillin allergy might suddenly break out in a terrible rash because of the effects of the drug. Other people with a penicillin allergy could experience trouble breathing if they have a penicillin allergy. This reaction to a penicillin allergy could actually be a lethal reaction to this usually healing drug. A penicillin allergy is the most common drug allergy. The medical experts who study drugs have never found out why this drug could cause a reaction in some people. These experts do know that anyone with a penicillin allergy should almost never take this drug.
Patients With A Penicillin Allergy Must Use Alternative Drug Therapies
People with an allergy to the medicine would often end up in an emergency room if they took the drug before they knew that they had an allergy to the drug. This was a disadvantage for these people because of the great benefits of the drug. Penicillin has been a miracle drug that has saved many lives so it may seem worrisome at first that some people cannot take this drug. Fortunately, the same group of experts that came up with penicillin have also come up with alternative drug therapies that produce the same healing results without the adverse effects for those with a penicillin allergy.


People who are allergic to penicillin are not necessarily allergic to other drugs. Once people realize that they have an allergy to penicillin, they should enter this information in all of their medical records. Their doctors must know about this problem. The doctors will be able to prescribe other drugs for the people with the allergic reactions to penicillin. Sometimes penicillin must be given to those with an allergy to the drug. The doctors will then use the drug, but they will put the patient through a process to make sure that the patient will not have the allergic reaction. This must be done with careful and constant supervision by a qualified medical expert.
 
References
Archer GE, Polk RE (2005). Treatment and prophylaxis of bacterial infections. In DL Kasper et al., eds., Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 16th ed., pp. 789–806. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Dykewicz MS, Gray HC (2006). Drug allergies. In DC Dale, DD Federman, eds., ACP Medicine, section 6, chap. 14. New York: WebMD.
McNeil D (2007). Allergic reactions to drugs. In RE Rakel, ET Bope, eds., Conn's Current Therapy, pp. 908–911. Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders.
Solensky R (2006). Drug hypersensitivity. Medical Clinics of North America, 90(1): 233–260.

Medical Degree in Rural India

The Central government in India has introduced the Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery (BRMS), a medical degree that could be obtained in three and a half years.

The decision to introduce the medical course was taken in Hyderabad at the two-day health ministers’ meet, chaired by the Union minister of health and family welfare, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The degree will be offered by institutes in rural areas with a strength of fifty students. Students would be selected based on their score in the 10+2 examination with physics, chemistry and biology as subjects. With a six-month rotating internship, the BRMS degree would be acquired in two phases and at two different levels — Community Health Facility for one and a half years and secondary level hospitals for an extended period of two years.