20 hours Ago By Rema Nagarajan
Doctors TOI spoke to hailed the Supreme Court judgment allowing a student with upper limb disability to get admission for MBBS course. They argued that it was important to have greater diversity among doctors and that it was unfair to pre-judge who could do what. Dr Shah Alam, a senior orthopaedic surgeon at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said he welcomed the judgment as it was important for diversity and because it was wrong to limit the professional options of those with disability.
"Some might say that medicine is about skill, but MBBS is also about theoretical knowledge and learning. The kind of dexterity needed in 'MBBS skills' is easily trainable even for those who have significant physical disabilities. There is a lot of expansion in medicine with many fields not requiring manual skills.
Previously, dissection was considered a big part of medicine, especially in early 20th century. Now there are many simulations to learn what was learnt through dissection. Moreover, if the student is managing the chores of his daily life, he surely has enough skills to learn MBBS.
The question is what he will do in the future after MBBS. Some fields like interventional cardiology might not be open to him. But not every MBBS doctor becomes an interventional cardiologist or surgeon.
With the advancement of science, we don't know what the future holds for this kind of disability," said Dr Alam. Dr RS Sindhu, head of department of surgical gastroenterology in Government Medical College Kottayam became the first female surgical gastroenterologist in Kerala despite both her legs being polio affected. "The medical board pegged my disability at 50%.
In my MBBS internship, during the rotation in surgery, I was fascinated by it. I did a further one year in surgery posting and became even more sure that I wanted to be a surgeon. Today, I do liver transplants and all kinds of gastro surgery and I am just completing 23 years as a gastroenterological surgeon, which entails standing for long hours.
This student too has the right to study what he feels passionate about," said Dr Sindhu. "This is a watershed moment for inclusive medicine in India, as it explicitly challenges the glorified ableism prevalent among medical professionals, whose conscious biases often distort disability assessments. This ruling is a landmark for disability justice in India and a powerful affirmation of the human mind's ability over mere psychomotor skills," said Dr Satendra Singh, a professor of physiology in University College of Medical Sciences in Delhi and disability rights activist.
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