Through a Khalus Lens: Unveiling R.G.Kar

Becoming a doctor is the major aspect that influences a student to pursue this course. The MBBS curriculum in itself is practical based and prepares the students to help real people with various real world ailments. Recent improvements have been done by making the course more clinical based than just factual rote learning information. As mentioned earlier mainly 4 university exams are held at an interval of 12 months approximately. But numerous tests, quizzes and internal assessments are held. Depending on the college and the department HODs the test and quizzes interval can be every week to fortnightly to every months and internal assessments every 6 months.

The MBBS curriculum comes with a mandatory 1yr internship in the hospital of the medical college. A student is required to complete the clinical rotations in all the departments of the hospital to get the degree of an MBBS graduate and a license to practice medicine in the country. A decent stipend of 28000 is also provided by the government in the medical colleges under West Bengal University of Health Sciences (WBUHS) as of 2024, which may increase in the future.

The year wise fees is Rs 9000. At the time of admission, Rs 1000 is charged as admission fees, and another 1000 is charged as registration fees. Along with this 2000, 6 months of fees is charged which sums up to Rs 4500 and later during 1st yr rest 4500 is to be paid. From the 2nd year onward, only 9000 is charged as tuition fees. Additionally, fees are charged for the university examinations which take place at the end of the completion of every year- for 1st yr, Rs 1800 was charged. For registration of the candidate in the university, 4000 is charged, which is a one-time fee. No scholarship is provided by the college itself but students( of West Bengal domicile) can apply for scholarship schemes such as SVMCM which provides scholarship of 60,000 pa to MBBS students as of 2024. Therefore, the whole course fee for 5½ years is Rs 45,000. Additional fees is charged for examinations as mentioned earlier.

Each year the annual cultural fest is held called "LOBELIA" generally in the month of September. It is one of the biggest fests among the medical colleges in Eastern India. Many renowned artists likes of Sonu Nigam, Armaan and Amal Mallik have performed in previous years. Numerous competitions in various field of arts, drama, sports, esports and culture are part of the fest where a student can portray there talent and win cash prizes. There is annual academic fest called "THERAPEUO" held one month prior to the cultural fest in the month of August. During the fest many workshops, cohorts, presentations, projects are held related to medical sciences and disciplines. In the campus there is a gym room and a boys' common room in which there is a table where is played. Rest all sports like Cricket, football and badminton tournaments are held outside the campus in various private grounds. Many functions are held like Foundation Day, Conferences where students interested in singing, dancing and speaking are required to perform.

The hostel rooms are decent. Bed and mattress are provided. Tables and chairs may be provided. Proper UV water filtration units are placed in every floor. Meal quality is decent and is quite affordable, like 40-45 for a veg meal and 50-70 for a non-meal depending upon the items. At the time of admission a hostel allotment form is needed to be filled and the hostels are allotted within one month. The monthly rent of hostel is 12 only( perk of being in a government medical college). If one wants to rent a room or stay in pg, they are available just behind the campus of the college or within 1-2km radius of the college campus mainly in Shyambazar and Belgachia area.

As we know admission in government medical colleges are done through rank based counselling via multiple rounds. So I got admission in Rgkmch based on my AIR of 8107 in AIQ in open seat quota in 2023. I had placed RGKMCH in my preference list as it is one of the oldest medical institutions of India. It is located in a prime location in Kolkata. It has a good alumni network. It has a great patient load which offers a invaluable ground for med students to learn and practice there knowledge of medical science. The exam accepted as of 2024 is NEET-UG for undergraduate, NEET-PG for postgraduate, and NEET-SS for post doctorate.

The faculty to student ratio is 1:25. The faculty are quite approachable. They try their best to clear the doubts of the students. They also guide the students on future aspects of medicine and related fields. The main university examinations take place once at the end of every academic year. So, in the MBBS curriculum, there are a total of 4 professional examinations. The MBBS exams prove to be the hardest examinations across any professional course in the country. Passing marks is 50 Percent for each subject. If any student fails to acquire the 50 Percent mark in any one subject in that particular year, he/she is required to again appear for the supplementary exam for that particular subject, and if the student passes the exam, then only he/she is allowed to attend the classes for the next year. If not able to clear the exam, the student is required to repeat the same year. Moreover, numerous exams in the form of ITEM, PCT, and INTERNAL ASSESSMENT are held to keep the students up-to-date with the ongoing syllabus.