MEDICINE MASTERS
Two pivotal postgraduate degrees to pursue after MBBS
MAKING THE CUT
MASTER OF SURGERY (MS) Armed with a scalpel and forceps, surgeons live life on the edge. They battle death every day, saving lives when all else fails. It is a tremendous responsibility and the course that trains them for this is the master of surgery (MS). This post graduate course is conducted over a period of three years and can be pursued by those students who have completed their MBBS from a college certified by the Medical Council of India (MCI). Students have the option of specialising in general surgery, orthopaedics, opthalmology, obstetrics and gynaecology among others over six semesters at the end of which they have to submit a dissertation on a topic of their choice. Here, if one has already done a two-year diploma in any specialisation, the course duration for them is reduced to three years. The perk of this profession is the money, where one major surgery might equal the salary of any other medical specialisation. Also, a qualified surgeon can undertake the job of a general physician, but not vice-versa, so it is an all-encompassing degree of medicine.
CAREER PROSPECTS
A graduate can work at hospitals, health centres, research institutes or laboratories. They can also start their own private practice or teach at a medical college with this degree in hand. Salaries for a surgeon can start from `70,000 and go higher depending on your area of specialisation
SPECIAL TREATMENT
DOCTOR OF MEDICINE (MD) While surgeons deal with only the hardcore aspects of medical science, a doctor of medicine holds the responsibility of prevention and curbing of illness and disease before it gets to the surgery phase. This three-year post graduate course equips MBBS graduates with a more in-depth understanding of the specialisation of their interest. Here, the options for a student to specialise in is more extensive, few of which are anaesthesiology, paediatrics, radiology, pathology, forensic medicine and general medicine. The choice between MS and MD is usually a matter of preference towards surgery. A student needs to be prepared for copious amounts of study and submit a dissertation at the end of their term.
CAREER PROSPECTS
A graduate can work at hospitals, health centres, research institutes or laboratories. They can also start their own private practice or teach at a medical college with this degree in hand. Salaries for a physician can start from `50,000 and go higher depending on your specialisation.