Hoping to teach medicine without MBBS degree

Authorities at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the Bihar capital are shocked that over 90 percent of applicants for teachers' posts at the institute did not have the mandatory MBBS degree, an official said Saturday.

The Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree is the first professional degree awarded on graduation from a medical school.

"It was unusual and unique; scores of unqualified youth applied for teaching posts, including that of senior and junior residents at AIIMS-Patna," AIIMS-Patna Director G.K. Singh said.

Baccha Kumar Rajak holds a Masters in Commerce degree but applied to be a senior resident at AIIMS-Patna. Rahul Bhardwaj, who has not finished graduation, sought to be considered for the same post. Amit Kumar Srivastav, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture also applied to be senior resident at AIIMS-Patna, officials said.

Anuj Kumar Kamal, with a degree in commerce and Sohan Lal Sonu, a Bachelor of Arts, also thought themselves fit to be teachers of medicine and applied for the post of junior resident at AIIMS-Patna.

Singh said that all such applicants had been rejected: "These applications were rejected on the ground that the essential qualification for the posts was lacking."

AIIMS-Patna officials said 44 non-MBBS degree holders, including those with degrees in technology, pharmaceuticals, computer applications and science, and even people with only school-level qualifications had applied for the position of teacher at the medical institute.

The applications were received in response to an advertisement published by AIIMS-Patna July 26.

Officials at the institute said they were puzzled by how the applicants considered themselves qualified for the position: "In the advertisement, the educational qualification required for the posts was clearly mentioned," one official told IANS.

Singh said that the hordes of applicants was also indicative of the poor standard of education in the country as the young people who applied without being qualified demonstrated an inability to discern whether or not they would be considered. He also said the large number of applications was an indicator of the level of desperation among youth to get a job.

In 2006, the central government decided to set up institutes like New Delhi's AIIMS across the country, including at Patna, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Rishikesh.