The perspectives of medical communities fighting the covid -19 pandemic and the future that Medical Students are stepping into.

MANDANAU, CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES, June 2, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- UV Gullas College of Medicine, based out of Cebu City, Philippines believes that holistic teaching of a student the way forward especially given the current Covid-19 panedmic. The UV Gullas College of Medicine Syllabus for the MD course followed though is American, there are a lot of frontiers that need an evaluation - say Ms Suba Ramesh, the Director of Admissions of UV Gullas Medical College. She sits from Vadapalani, Chennai in India.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has created a question of sorts about the role of MBBS students doing MBBS in Philippines in battling this outbreak. Dr. Shelbay Blanco, the head of the preventive and community medicine from UV Gullas College of Medicine is a Medical Officer with the Department of Health in the Philippines Government also. With his complete updated information on the extent of spread of the COVID-19 and exactly what is happening in the field, the students have not only been safe in the UV Gullas Hostel which is within the UV Gullas campus, but the college under the able leadership of the management lead the students to help ease the society and their sufferings by distributing essentials around in a very safe way.
The conflicting schools of thoughts with regards to the roles that MBBS students can play during this pandemic however need to be addressed as all nations step into a future with an assurity of the presence of the Covid-19.

As per the AAMC ( American Association of Medical Colleges) and their guidelines, the students are to not get involved and be the frontline warriors. The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) has in fact ensured that the guidelines specify to suspend student clerkships and has recommended that “unless there is a critical health care workforce need locally, we strongly suggest that medical students not be involved in any direct patient care activities”. Since Philippines Medical Colleges follow the American Syllabus, this guideline is a fact that needs to be looked into too.

Another school of thought, however disagreed with the above saying, that the medical students’ involvement should be reserved for critical health care personnel shortages. They should be offered clinical opportunities that would benefit patient care and even help in a workforce shortage.
The thought further extends to the AAMC recognizing students as students and not employees and they are not “MDs”. This frame of thought is also not right given the circumstance where it is expected for these students to be clinicians-in-training. The primary job of a medical student is to learn medicine but unless they practice, they wouldn’t be proficient to dispense treatment. If they are to be allowed to take care and be more involved, of course, with the necessary precautions, this could help them face the future. There is a precedence to this statement. When the Spanish flu broke out in 1918, it was the medical students of the University of Pennsylvania who cared for the patients and played the role of physicians.

In the current COVID-19 pandemic, the MBBS schools in Italy, the USA and Britain are graduating medical students early so that they serve as frontline clinicians. The healthcare system should never wait until it reaches a breaking point before it invites the students doing MBBS in Philippines to serve. The medical students can adeptly play any role if channelized well, like, they can assist in fielding questions about COVID-19, they can take care of the outpatient clinical care by taking histories, documenting visits, calling patients with laboratory results, providing patient education
Sometimes, the MBBS students can provide care on inpatient services that do not have patients with COVID-19 also. Under the supervision of senior residents or attending physicians. The UV Gullas College of Medicine has been following these thoughts very carefully and has been preparing its students to handle the patients from these perspectives.

The British Medical Association has a paradigmatic contradictory approach to this concept. They have come out with a tough, practical solution considering that the pandemic will simply overwhelm intensive care beds, ventilators etc. The guidelines can be summarized as that the infection of Coronavirus will not guarantee priority for treatment. Rather, the patients who have a higher probability of dying or require extended life support are not to be considered but may receive other forms of medicare. These guidelines do not relieve one of any moral stress, it however shows the method of thought to be applied considering the stark future ahead.

An article in the European Respiratory Journal talks of high-risk Emergency situations, where “the doctor is subject to a number of competing duties: 1) a duty to patients; 2) a duty to protect oneself from undue risk of harm; 3) a duty to one’s family; 4) a duty to colleagues whose workloads and risk of harm will increase in one’s absence, and 5) a duty to society.”

Dr Adarsh Pratap, president of the Resident Doctors Association at AIIMS, Delhi, says right now saving human lives is the reason he signed up for the profession. His mother, who is over 60 is worried, but “I tell her it’s like being in the Army in times of war. Ye to Karna hi hai (This has to be done).”
A doctor in Australia, @seemathewombat says: “I’m a Dr. I’m about to separate from my family within my home for --- months. So that I can keep treating you, whilst trying to keep my family safe. It hurts. No hugs from my girls, no cuddles from my partner. PLS socially distance NOW, to make my sacrifice worth it"

“UV Gullas College of Medicine, true to its motto of serving humanity through love, has taken on itself to ensure that the best of both the thought worlds are carried out. So we have started to train the UV Gullas students, while ensuring that they safely practice as frontliners from now and we have been successful”, smiles Ms Suba Ramesh while rifling through the stack of UV Gullas College of Medicine Admissions 2020.

Suba Ramesh
UV Gullas College of Medicine
+91 94455 53877
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UV Gullas Medical College is one of the best Philippines Medical Colleges and the UV Gullas Hostel is within the UV Gullas Campus itself. Admissions 2020 open.