BREAKTHROUGH OR GOING BACKWARDS?

There have been few takers for MBBS books in Hindi. Do they aid comprehension or hold some medical students back?

- Atul Krishna

It has been seven months since the Madhya Pradesh Government launched Hindi textbooks for MBBS courses in the state. Despite the fanfare, very few students have bought them.

Medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh continue to teach in English and students are continuing to use the English textbooks. The Madhya Pradesh government, in October 2022, in an event attended by home minister Amit Shah, launched three MBBS textbooks anatomy, physiology and biochemistry in Hindi for first-year MBBS students.

They have found few users.

"Only eight or 10 students out of the 250 in GMC Bhopal have opted for these textbooks. And they were mainly sold in Bhopal. Otherwise, it is just three or four students across medical colleges in the whole of Madhya Pradesh," said Hareesh Pathak, president of Resident Doctors Association Gandhi Medical College (GMC) Bhopal. "The government is trying to push the books to students and teachers but there doesn't seem to be much demand."

Students and Indian Medical Association (IMA) members point to the lack of options in Hindi for higher education as a reason for the unpopularity of the books. The lack of an academic atmosphere for MBBS in Hindi means that students will have to turn to English to publish research journals, get niche information. Yet, officials are confident that with time, and with more states opting for textbooks in regional languages, this will change.

Textbooks launched

Madhya Pradesh became the first state to launch MBBS textbooks in a local language in October last year. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra plan to introduce MBBS textbooks in Hindi and Marathi from the coming academic year.