PREFERENCES OF UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS FOR CHOOSING A CAREER SPECIALTY AND THEIR INTEREST IN COMMUNITY MEDICINE

Background: India being a developing country, with the highest burden of multiple preventable diseases including tuberculosis proposes a more robust public health care system. Considering the lack of efficient leadership in public health, this study has been conducted in order to assess the interest of medical students in community medicine as a career and to understand their point of view with respect to public health.

Materials & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among II, III, IV M.B.B.S students from government medical college, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra during the period of July to august 2024 through a structured, pretested questionnaire. Results: 390 students took part in the study. Of which II MBBS (33.4%), III MBBS (38.8%), IV MBBS (28%). Males and females were represented as 215(55%) and 162 (41.5%) respectively. The specialties most preferred by students were general surgery, general medicine and dermatology, while the least preferred were pre and paraclinical subjects including community medicine. Significant variation in data was noted with respect to the location (urban or local) of pursuing career as a doctor semester wise.

Conclusion: The study finds that curative medicine is still being sought better than preventive medicine in India, further on it also provides significant proofs for the difference in urban and rural division of resources. More insightful studies are required to assess how to improve the allocation of resources into rural localities.