New women-only medical college at Symbiosis, Pune

NEW DELHI: The Medical Council of India has recently granted permission to Symbiosis International (Deemed) University (SIU), Pune to establish an all-women’s medical college.

The Symbiosis Medical College for Women will also offer medical education for free to five students. The college will have an annual intake of 150 students starting from the academic year 2020-21.

Student intake, scholarships

Speaking to Careers360, Rajiv Yeravdekar, dean, Faculty of Health Sciences at Symbiosis, said: “Out of 150 girls, five students who qualify through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, or NEET, will be offered free medical education for the entire duration of the MBBS programme.” The full fee waiver will be through the Anandi Gopal Scholarships which SIU has instituted.

To explain their decision, Yeravdekar points out that at present, only 17 percent of allopathic doctors in India are women. The university announced the new project on March 5, three days ahead of the International Women's Day on March 8.

Hospital and teachers

The Symbiosis University Hospital and Research Centre (SUHRC) is the hospital that will be attached to the medical college. It already has a capacity of 900.

The college has attracted teachers from among the best across the country. The teachers will adopt modern interdisciplinary pedagogies of academic instruction including the AETCOM Module prescribed by the Medical Council of India (MCI), explained Yeravdekar.

They will also impart practical ‘hands-on’ training at the state of the art Simulation Centre and the Cadaveric Laboratory.

Giving back to society

Each entrant to the medical college would be administered an oath on the first day. They will have pledge that they will connect with the community.

All the students after completing their study will be encouraged to take up community activities. “They will be working for the medical college for some time,” added Yeravdekar. “Further policy decisions are being worked on and will be made public soon.”

The inspiration

Located at Lavale, Pune, the idea for the medical college was conceived by S. B Majumdar, the founder and Chancellor of the Symbiosis International (Deemed) University.

The biographical movie on Anandibai Joshi, India’s first woman doctor inspired Majumdar to come up with the only women’s medical college in the country.

Correction: An earlier version of the story said this will be the first women's medical college in the country. That is incorrect. There are both public and private medical colleges that enrol only women.

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