Demand for inclusion of NIPAH in MBBS syllabus

Kozhikode:Senior doctors have called for inclusion of the epidemiology of the Nipah virus in the revised MBBS syllabus, due to the recent outbreak of this virus in Kozhikode district. The senior medical practitioners have pointed out that Nipah along with other vector-borne diseases, is on the rise in many States, especially Kerala where malaria, is believed to have been eradicated in the late Sixties, and was now staging a comeback .

Dr MR Chandran, former Director, Medical Education and Principal, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur says “Nipah can be a case study and it should be included in the undergraduate course."

Dr. Chandran highlighting the ignorance of many senior professors regarding the existence of the Nipah virus before the Kozhikode outbreak said it was from the media and the World Health Organization website that they had got an idea about the disease . “The panic could have been mitigated during the initial stage of the outbreak had we known about this disease,” he added to the Hindu.

The MCI, it is learnt, has embarked on plans to study the revision and upgrade of the existing Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 1997. The revision will be implemented, focusing on changing conditions and the importance of health care and rural health care and community orientation. The new curriculum of MBBS to be ready this year or next year is to have more modules on how to control vector borne and non communicable diseases.

Meanwhile, Kozhikode Government Medical College, Principal, V.R. Rajendran, Principal, said the introduction of emerging diseases and the importance of microbiology in the syllabus for MBBS course would certainly benefit both students and society .