The MBBS syndromes

The following article describes the various types of MBBS syndromes. The very fact that I am writing this article shows that MBBS is full of syndromes. These set of syndromes are subject to change with opinion from others who have gone through all the 6 syndromes.

1. Pre-MBBS syndrome = excitement

When I got selected for MBBS after Class XII, I was super excited. I sent messages on through Facebook to seniors and friends asking them, “Do you have any books that I can read now so that it might help me in MBBS”. Through my friends I got to an ebook on medical terminologies that was shared by Dr Dinesh Pradhan (who is now a Registrar in paediatrics). Even with my enthusiasm, I couldn’t finish reading that simple book from the first to the last page. This was an indication that in MBBS, you will never be able to read your books “from cover to cover”, unless it’s a very tiny book.

Next, I and a few friends met Dr Pakila Drukpa at a career counselling programme at Yangchenphug. He noted our enthusiasm (which was at its peak) and took us to the JDWNRH library. There, I saw the thick textbooks and tried to read Grey’s Anatomy. I could have read only a few pages and importantly I don’t remember a thing from that page. It was an indication that medical textbooks will be thick, and the small books will be written in several volumes.

During those times, in first half of 2010, when I contacted seniors in Sri Lanka and asked them several times to recommend a medical book that I can read, all of them said, “just enjoy your free time”. At that time, I didn’t know what “free time” meant until Term 1 started in college.

Every year down the line, juniors asked me the same questions I asked when I was a pre-MBBS person. I advised the same, “enjoy your free time”. Thus, pre-MBBS syndrome is a consistent phenomenon.

2. First year MBBS syndrome = wasting money

When guys first come to Sri Lanka, they find money has no value. When my batch were new comers in Colombo, our seniors took us for shopping at Majestic City. There, my friend Pema bought a pair of slippers and it cost him a hefty Rs 3000. Every one said, “three thousand for a chappal!”. The moment we stepped out of our rented homes, money went in thousands and thousands. Then I realised, I was not realising how much money I was spending. So, I calculated the conversion factor, 1 Sri Lankan Rupees equals 0.4 ngultrums. So, whatever I was buying, I converted into ngultrums… but this never helped. So still all my stipend money was going in thousands and thousands until I came to realise on several occasions what “broke” meant.

So where did all these money go? That I realised when I was packing my things to go back to Bhutan after finishing my MBBS. I had bought so many things that were not of any use – kitchen utensils such as a kettle. I don’t know why me and my housemate Pema decided to buy a kettle. In our five years together, we never owned a gas stove to even boil some water in that kettle. Clothes! We gave away bundle and bundle of clothes equivalent to a small jaypee shop. And every weekend, we went to Majestic City (if you come to Colombo and don’t visit the Majestic City, it means you haven’t visited Colombo). The tuk tuks, when we were in first year, did not have meter. So they charged hefty amounts, and still we hadn’t realised the value of Sri Lankan rupees.

But as we grew up, slowly the value of money was driven into by repeated episodes of broke days, one in April-May, and in October-November when stipend was deposited for six months in these later months. Wasting money led to broke days, and the severe problems arise during broke days.

At one time when I was in my senior years, many of our juniors were broke and when our repeated calls and emails to DAHE to send the stipend was not answered, we wrote a letter to the newly elected Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay to release our stipend at the earliest. Well, when the director visited Colombo, he told, “You don’t have to write to the Prime Minister to get your stipend.”

This I write because, some juniors are seen wasting money and are at risk of getting into broke stages.

3. Second year MBBS syndrome = frustration

In first year, we are all the time in the college for lectures and studies. From the second year, we get to go to the hospitals for clinical training. Our excitement in clinical training is immediately dampened by frustration due to lack of Sinhalese language. Language becomes a big barrier and most of the time is spent standing in the wards and trying to learn Sinhalese.

4. Middle year MBBS syndrome = module years

The middle years are a battle with modules. We study for module exams with all our effort because if we fail these so many module exams, we will have to re-sit the exam. Studying is such a nuisance, and these years are a battle of module after modules. Heaps of notes are photocopied, lectures are mostly recorded so that guys can sleep in the afternoon lectures and can be listened at a later convenient time.

Over these years, guys wonder when will I ever get graduated? When will these module exams finish! The module exams indeed come to an end after the fourth year. At that moment, guys think, I have learnt everything because I have passed all module exams. Then comes the next syndrome.

5. Final year = the shinkansen year

The final year is likened to a train. Final year is like a train journey that begins very early in the morning. So it is like you wake up for a at 1 am for an early morning 4 am Druk Air flight from Bangkok. You wake up, wipe your eyes, drive away your sleep with your adrenaline and off goes 8 weeks of professorial appointment. You re-learn everything. The stuff that you left in your previous years as stuff too boring, you must know them in final year. If not, you pay with your marks in exams (countless exams in the final year).

Over the final year, the anxiety and stress for final year exam increases exponentially, time becomes an extremely scarce and highly valuable resource.

And then Final MBBS happens.

6. Post-MBBS syndrome = emptiness syndrome

Until the end of final MBBS exams, guys are all hopeful and excited that the end of MBBS has come. But it’s very much like a couple wanting their son to get a job and settle in life. When that happens, the son settles for a job elsewhere and the parents live an empty life. All the excitement of the end of MBBS lasts a few days and then there’s nothing. There’s this huge gap of holidays and waiting for the results.

Well, when you have reached the destination, you begin to miss the journey.