Now that the first round of counselling for postgraduate (PG) government seats has concluded in the state of Tamil Nadu, it has been noted that Radio Diagnosis and General Medicine are the most picked courses among students this year, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
In the provisional allotment list of the top 100 rankers, only one has opted for General Surgery.
Dr K Senthil, President, Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association (TNGDA), said, "Radio Diagnosis and General Medicine have always been the most sought courses for the last 15 years. But every year the trend of second preference keeps changing. In previous years, it was paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology and orthopaedics. For the last two years, general medicine has been more preferred by students."
When it comes to Radio Diagnosis, doctors can even opt to work from home. All the scans like MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), Computerised Tomography (CT) and X-ray can be gone through at home and the diagnosis can be shared accordingly. Dr Kumar reasoned that this could be the reason why it has emerged as the most preferred option.
Dr G R Ravindranath, General Secretary, Doctors Association for Social Equality (DASE), said, "General Medicine acts as a gateway for joining super speciality courses. Radio Diagnosis might be the trend now, but with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the healthcare sector, it is uncertain if the same scope for radiologists would continue ten years later."
During COVID-19, people came to understand the importance of General Medicine and the requirement of scans like MRI, CT and X-ray. Even other investigations to determine diseases are always there, shared S Chandrasekar, Head Department of Medicine, Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.
