Gurmeen Kaur (22) is a fourth year medical student from Delhi, India.

Do you live with your parents or on your own? 

I am living with my parents.
 

How’s university life in Delhi?

University life in Delhi is different for medical  and engineering students as compared to the  all other streams because all 3 medical colleges under the Delhi University are situated far away from the main University Campus. Medical students of the 3 colleges in Delhi University which are Maulana Azad Medical College, Lady Hardinge Medical College and University College of Medical Sciences have their own festivals and events where students in all 3 colleges as well as students from the two other medical colleges in Delhi which are All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Vardhman Mahavir College participate and socialize.

In which study year are you? 
Final Year (4^th year)

How many years is medical school in India?
4,5 year of studying and one year of Internship, which makes it 5,5 years in total.

How many hours a week do you spend on your study?
An average Medical Student spends about 12–14 hours studying during regular college days. 

Is it possible for everyone to study medicine (considering the costs) in India?

 Medical Education in University of Delhi, India is not expensive at all. The fee is very nominal as the State sponsors a big portion of our expenditure. We may about Rs. 2000/- per annum. Besides this the Government does have scholarships for few students with good ranks in the medical entrance exams and for single girl children with no siblings to promote gender equality in the country.

What do you think is the best part of the medical education in India?
I think the best part of medical education in India is the enormous clinical exposure that we get. We get to see all tropical and infectious diseases in abundance and since the state hospitals associated with medical schools in India cater to an extremely large segment of the population.
 

If you can change one thing of the medical education in India, what would that be?
That would be revising the medical curriculum so that it is more in sync with the pattern of teaching in the rest of the world and redundant things are removed. 

Describe your life in 2020…. 
I think all medical students my age would have completed their residencies and fellowships and attained a certain degree of professional stability by then. It would probably be a more peaceful, mature and less demanding learning module with better skills in dealing with patients that are inculcated only by experience. 

 

Photo © Judith Escribano/Help the Aged and Age Concern 2009, shared under Creative Common License