Students have multiple opportunities after BAMS: GS Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital Principal

Dr Bhavna Singh, the Principal of GS Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital talks about various career opportunities after BAMS.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

What are career options after BAMS and are there any increases in seats at your institute? 

We have 100 BAMS seats and I am happy to tell you that our college is UP’s first private college where these 100 BAMS seats get filled immediately during the first round of counselling and we did not require to go for the second round of counselling since four years.

BAMS is a five and a half year course including four and half years of study and one year of internship. After internship and registration, the students can choose to do private practices, they can also join as medical officers in private and government hospitals and many vacancies come related to this post.

There are many private hospitals and institutes like Patanjali and JIVA which requires medical officers in large numbers. They can also apply to Class 1 jobs as UPSC medical officers. One can also go for postgraduate MD courses in different branches like surgery, medicine, kaya chikitsa, paediatrics, Gyane and others. There are a total of 14 branches of MD specialisation including a psychiatrist. The MD specialisation courses are for three years after which one can go for teaching or pursue PhD courses or one can also go for research. Now, students can also apply to colleges abroad. 

How pandemic affected GS Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital and what are the changes you are observing after two years of the pandemic?

As you know Covid-19 pandemic affected everything, so yes, GS Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital was also affected. However, during the Covid-19 also, GS Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital fulfilled all its duty and along with the help of DM and CMO of Hapur district, we converted our hospital into the government’s Covid centre. We provided all the services and even our faculty didn’t take any leave during that time and continued work. The infected staff isolated themselves and others continued with their duties. We also never cut down any employees' salaries during the pandemic time. 

We vaccinated our people including faculty, staff and students. Though right now it is being considered as the fourth wave, at our institute, till now we have not observed any impact of this wave as such.

We followed all guidelines of government during the Covid times whether conducting online classes or others. Being a medical institute, the staff was on 50% mode and at one time the classes were completely online but we conducted them regularly. Now, the classes have returned to the usual offline mode after the second wave of the Covid-19.

How did the GS Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital manage during the lockdown period, what were the challenges?

Staff used to come on 50% mode to control the spread of infection. We distributed free Ayush Kadha during the lockdown to our staff as well as GS medical staff. We prepared Ayush Kwath and other Ayurvedic Rasayana like Chawanprash regularly and distributed them among the staff as well as the nearby villages so that these people can get benefitted from the ayurvedic medicines during the pandemic time. We also held awareness programs for the prevention of Covid and boosting the immunity of people through natural supplements. 

Last April, we held these awareness programs for many big companies including mother dairy and others, and also in other institutes.

What challenges did the students face during the lockdown period?

In offline classes, the teacher and student connectivity are much better. Also, medical is a practical knowledge hence it is always better to do the course offline and see patient trials in real. Studying medical courses online is a bit disturbing because the teacher and student connectivity get affected and also the students do not get much practical exposure. During online classes, some students used to mark their attendance but they were not attending the classes and the teacher was also not able to know about it. So, these were some challenges, but we also created groups for students so that they can ask questions in case of any queries.

Recently, WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine has been established in Gujarat to position AYUSH systems across the globe. It is the first and only global outposted Centre (office) for traditional medicine across the globe, how do you see the development?

We would like to say thanks to Prime Minister Modi Ji and our government for doing such good work by promoting AYUSH. Our faculty also went to meet Modi ji. I don’t have words to express how PM Modi is taking Ayurveda to the international platform as he established yoga at the international level. Through this major development, Ayurveda will reach people in a scientific way. In this event, many companies invested, hence it will help in the development of the country.

Till now, China was number one in the export of the traditional Chinese medicine and now I see India taking that place soon where India will be number one in exporting the Ayurveda medicine to the world. 

Also, till now many countries had not given value to Ayurveda degrees like BAMS but now countries will recognise them in future. The students will be able to pursue higher education abroad and will also be able to open the centres. All these things will take us, our students and our country towards development.

What are the research areas of your institute?

During Covid-19, we initiated a research study trial on Ayush Kadha. We had also admitted patients for trial but due to some protocols, we could not continue it. Later on, when we tried again to do the study during the third wave, at that time not many cases were reported. Hence, we could not complete it. Hence, we could not complete that study.

Now, we are starting a trial for an immunity booster compound for which we have registered the study in CTRI and the clinical trial will continue for three months on how through simple formula we can boost our immunity.

What are your plans and vision to make the college better in terms of education?

Till now, we are focussing on academics and I think that Ayurveda has still not made a strong place for itself and there is more work that needs to be done. For example, people are not aware of what are the diseases which can be treated through Ayurveda. There is also a belief among people that Ayurveda medicines are slow as compared to modern medicines. Hence, Ayurvedic OPDs are limited. What I am trying to do is that these OPDs should increase day by day. We must also do more work on developing our medicines in our own pharmacies so that these medicines can be more effective.

We also have plans to further develop panchakarma. We have separate panchakarma facilities for males and females. Also, we need to promote other OPDs like surgery OPD. We have all facilities and expert doctors but we need to make people aware of these facilities so that they can benefit from these facilities.

Read more:

• Ayurvedic colleges with necessary infrastructure must be encouraged now, says Delhi HC
• AYUSH to play a significant role in well-being of humans: AYUSH Minister