Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery

MBBS

MBBS means Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and in Latin stands for Medicinae Baccalaureus Baccalaureus Chirurgiae. It is the undergraduate equivalent of medical graduate level education and thus awarded as a degree in medicine and surgery upon graduation from medical school or college.
In India it is a four and a half year course followed by one year of internship, which is compulsory. Only after successfully finishing these five and a half years, one is awarded the graduate degree of MBBS. Once the degree is awarded, one can prefix Dr. in front of ones name.

Duration of MBBS

The MBBS course in the first 2 and a half years included the basic pre and para-clinical subjects such as biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, microbiology, pathology, forensic medicine including toxicology and pharmacology. The students simultaneously are taken through hands-on training in the wards and out-patient departments; an exercise which involves interacting with real patients for all training years. There is lab work too during the first two and a half years. The remaining two years involves learning of clinical subjects like eye, Ent, surgery, medicine and other subjects.

MBBS Curriculum

The studies include learning the art of history taking, examination, differential diagnosis and complete patient management. The student is taught to determine what investigations are useful for a patient and what are the best treatment options available to use for a particular disease. The curriculum also contains a thorough practical knowledge and practice of performing standard clinical procedures. The course also contains a 12-month-long internship, in which an intern is rotated across various specialties and is involved in bed side as well as emergency care. Some time is also spent in the operating rooms.
Thus along with learning standard clinical care, one also gets a thorough experience of ward and staff management, patient and relative counselling skills as well as research and audit tools.

Eligibility Criteria for MBBS

The minimum requirements for the MBBS course are 50% marks in physics, chemistry, biology and English in the '10+2' examinations and for reserved category students, the requirement is 40%. Since there only one exam in India for admission to a medical college teaching MBBS course, the admission are the same across universities and colleges in India. Generally, students who attain higher marks in the qualifying examinations are accepted onto the MBBS course.

MBBS admission

In India admission to MBBS course is through a national Entrance Exam named NEET UG. It stands for National Eligibility Entrance Test for undergraduate studies ie is MBBS
NEET UG is conducted by is conducted by NTA from 2019

MBBS Subjects

The various subjects taught during the course of MBBS studies are given below.

First year
1.   Anatomy
2.   Biochemistry
3.   Physiology

Second year
1.   Pathology
2.   Pharmacology
3.   Microbiology
4.   Forensic Medicine
5.   In many colleges, Community Medicine is taught in the second year too.

Third year
1.   ENT
2.   Ophthalmology
3.   Community Medicine

Final year
1.   Surgery
2.   General Medicine
3.   Paediatrics
4.   Gynaecology and Obstetrics

Apart from the above 14 main subjects, 5 more subjects are taught in the final year.
1.   Dermatology
2.   Radiology
3.   Psychiatry
4.   Orthopaedics
5.   Anaesthesia