Plenty to do as a Paramedic
Manish Kumar Singal

IN any hospital or nursing home, the paramedical staff can be seen working shoulder to shoulder with the doctors to provide treatment to the patients. In fact, if it were not for the assistance of the paramedical staff, a doctor may even be unable to operate upon the patients.

Paramedical science is thus a career in which there are many opportunities. A person can become a lab technician, a physiotherapist, microbiologist or take up any of the related fields. The other paramedical jobs include those of occupational therapists, speech and hearing therapists, radiographers, medical laboratory technicians, dieticians, emergency medical technicians, optometrists, prosthetic and orthotic engineers and nurses.

The figures available suggest that India spends US $ 23 billion or 5.3 per cent of its GDP on healthcare. The figure is further expected to touch US $ 46 billion by the year 2012.

This sector has the potential to generate 8 million jobs by 2012 and thereby contribute 7 to 8 per cent to the GDP.

Not only in the country, India’s skilled medical and paramedical manpower forms a huge reservoir to be placed globally especially in the western countries like the USA.

Their role is to help doctors to provide the correct diagnosis of a disease to enable its best possible treatment.

Says Dr. I.P. Dhalla, President, Delhi Medical Association, "Paramedical sciences have their own value and significance. For example, earlier in the case of an accident, one had to wait and watch the condition of a patient to know whether or not he had a clot in his head. But now, with advanced technology, an MRI specialist can, in a few minutes, give the entire report of the patient. This makes it easier for a doctor to carry out an operation, if needed."

"The paramedical staff helps doctors in diagnosing a disease. Further, the Indian paramedical scientists are much in demand in European countries like France, Germany, as also the UK, Switzerland, Canada, and USA," he adds.

Says Dr. Karan Singh, Member Delhi Bhartiya Chikitsa Parishad, Ministry of Health, Government of Delhi, "More and more girls are opting for this profession, whose scope is greater overseas. For instance, physiotherapy, a hugely popular course in the USA, is slowly picking up in India too. Physiotherapists have excellent job opportunities overseas."

The minimum qualification for getting admission to any paramedical course is plus two with physics, chemistry and mathematics as the subjects.

A number of institutes offer B.Sc. courses in paramedical sciences, for which an entrance test is conducted by some. These courses are of two to three years’ duration.

The degree courses are of three years’ duration, while the postgraduate courses and the diploma courses are of two years.

After completing the basic course in any of the paramedical streams, the candidate can take up a job in a hospital, nursing home, clinic, health departments etc.

With the opening of corporate hospitals like Apollo Hospital, Escorts Hospital etc, the scope for these professionals has increased tremendously. The candidates can also choose for teaching as a profession. Besides, they can open their own laboratories.

Some of the institutes offering paramedical courses are:

• Delhi Institute of Paramedical Sciences, Delhi.

• Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana.

• AIIMS, Ansari Nagar, Delhi.

• School of Physiotherapy, KEM Hospital, Mumbai.

• All India Institute of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Mumbai.

• G.S. Seth Medical College, Mumbai.

• National Institute for the Orthopedically Handicapped, BT Road, Kolkata.

• School of Optometry, Medical College, Kolkata.