Unique Workshop at CMC Ludhiana

To replace animals in medical training discussed by experts

Medical college and other colleges participated in PETA PROJECT 

Ludhiana// January 20, 2012//Shalu Arora and Rector Kathuria

This month, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA) India is sponsoring a series of free continuing medical education workshops on alternatives to the use of animals in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programmes at numerous Indian medical colleges. The series is the first of its kind in India and workshop at Christian Medical College in Ludhiana was held on Friday January 20, 2012. The series was developed after the adoption of a policy by the Medical Council of India in 2009 that cleared the way for medical schools to end all use of animals in MBBS training. Other schools presenting the professional advancement workshops include All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, St John's Medical College in Bangalore and Jawaharlal Institute of Post graduate Medical Education and Research in Pondicherry."By relegating the use of animals in training to the history books,India's medical colleges will ensure that students are given the most modern educational tools available", says PETA India Science Policy Adviser Dr Chaitanya Koduri. "Students across the country can now learn life-saving techniques without participating in cruel class room exercises that defy the physicians' Hippocratic Oath to help, heal and save lives."In the US, non-animal medical training curricula have already been adopted in 95 per cent of programmes and are 100 per cent in use in Canada and the UK. Institutions in these countries provide studentswith the latest training methods, including human-patient simulators,supervised clinical practice and interactive computer-aided teachingmodels. Non-animal training methods have repeatedly proved to besuperior to those that use animals.Dr. Kim Mammem, Associate Director, Christian Medical College,Ludhiana inaugurated the workshop and emphasized the role ofalternatives in medical education. Dr. SM Bhatti, Principal, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana welcome all the delegates. Dr. Kulwant Singh, Member, Punjab Medical Council informed that the CME has beenawarded 4 credits hours and is a very good initiative.  Dr. Dinesh Badyal, Professor & Head, Department of Pharmacology and organizing secretary informed that more than 100 delegates from various medical colleges of Punjab and adjoining states attended the workshop and they plan to use these alternatives in their institutes. The workshop featured presentations and demonstrations  by leading medical experts, including John Pawlowski, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School (US); Dinesh Kumar Badyal, MD, Christian Medical College (Ludhiana, India) and Mohammad Akbarsha, PhD, Bharathidasan University (Tiruchirappalli,India).