EXPECTATIONS OF CATHOLIC MEDICAL COLLEGES FROM PROSPECTIVE

MEDICAL ASPIRANTS
Corresponding Author
Minu Mary Mathew
Faculty
Department of Chemistry
Christ Junior College
Christ University- Main University
Bengaluru 560 029
KARNATAKA
minu.mathew@res.christuniversity.in
Co-Author
Dr Kennedy Andrew Thomas
Director, Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC)
Christ University, Bengaluru 560 029
KARNATAKA
kennedy.andrew@.christuniversity.in
ABSTRACT
Medical science, being one of the most sought after professions, demands the candidate to
possess adequate skills and the right attitude meant for it. Catholic Medical Institutions
function worldwide with their objective to be in continuation with the healing ministry of
Christ, as a moral vocation. This paper relies on a preliminary review and perception to the
choice of a career in Medical Science and ascertains the expectations of Catholic Medical
Colleges in our country, from prospective adolescents who wish to take up the profession of
Medical Science. The paper focuses on personal communication conveyed to the investigator,
extensive review of related literature and textual analysis of the vision and mission of
Catholic Medical Colleges across the country.

INTRODUCTION
His Holiness Pope John Paul VI in his Declaration on Christian Education in
Gravissimum Educationis, has stressed on the importance of true education as the fulfilment
of the pursuit of the individual for the good of the society. The responsibility of educational
institutions to nurture young minds with an adequate share of intellectual growth, moral
development, value consciousness and preparation for professional life has also been

highlighted. A career that works in true compliance with this thought is the profession of
Medical Science, which is in continuation of the healing ministry of Christ on earth.
Medicine is viewed as a profession that challenges the intellectual competency of the
doctor [1]. The reasons for adolescents to choose Medical Science as a vocation for life are
several. Ones own free will [2] and own interest [3] to join the profession ; Serving
humanity, especially the poor and the needy [4] and social service [5] ; parents will [2] and
parental support [3]; suggestions of friends and relatives [2]; acquisition of high social status
[6]; social prestige [7]; prestige associated with the profession [8]; respect and honour
advocated to the profession [9]; respect in the society [4] and social recognition [10] are some
of the reasons cited in literature. A profession like Medicine, in India, which continues to hold
high regard for its professionals like doctors and nurses, expects more from them with respect
to their professional knowledge and clinical skills. However, Medical Science is a complex
course of professional studies where the percentage of Medical aspirants in any country is
large when compared to the actual percentage of students qualifying through it. Since a
profession of this sort requires the candidate to possess exhaustive knowledge of theory and
practical procedures of Medical Science, capabilities, intra and inter personal skills,
adaptability of the mind, ability to make decisions, accountability, professional code of ethics
and a rigorous bent of mind to work hard under turbulent conditions, it demands that
adolescents admitted to this profession, ought to be meant for it.
VALUES EXPECTED IN THE PROFESSION OF MEDICAL SCIENCE
An adolescent is most likely to gravitate towards this profession as a vocation for life when
he or she realizes their true liking for the profession along with the traits and values exhibited
by them in close compliance with those in the profession. These include displaying a sound
demeanour adept to the nobility attached to the profession; being a meticulous learner
towards studying; being concerned about the well being of the sick; conducting oneself with
utmost professionalism and upholding the dignity of the profession [11,12]. Medical
professionalism signifies a set of behaviours, values, attitudes and behaviour expected to be
acquired by the medical student [13]. Literature studies have proven that certain traits
expected under the dimension of Medical Professionalism can be assimilated together. These
include medical ethics [14]; medical etiquette [15]; respect and fairness [14, 15, 16]; team
work [17]; adaptability [16] and accountability and responsibility [14]. Service Mindedness
refers to the willingness to be of help and service to others. Service mindedness has

constructs developed with respect to perspective of service and performance of service [18].
Service mindedness encompasses the dimensions from literature with empathy [14, 19];
humility [15]; genuine concern for people and patients [17]; interest in the lives of others [17]
and honesty and integrity [14]. Commitment refers to mindset reflecting loyalty and
willingness to give ones all principle or plan of action to particular person, profession or
organization [20]. Commitment to study medicine [21] was pointed out as being a necessary
attribute to study medicine and candidates with essential commitment and motivation are to
be selected for the profession. These references clearly emphasize the need of selecting
individuals who have been chosen or called for the vocation of Medical Science with a
divine purpose of healing the sick. Applicants to medical colleges must be those ideally with
the greatest abilities and characteristics that are expected from future physicians [22].
However, there were always multiple reasons why adolescents opted to study
medicine. Social service is declining while financial incentives, social status and a
charismatic lifestyle are becoming the prime reasons for choosing the Medical profession [5].
Financial reasons were also ascertained as a prime factor for choosing the profession [23].
The ambition of becoming prospective medical entrepreneurs on the long run and the choice
of specialization in post-graduate medical education are two reasons which have been cited
by adolescents on personal communication with the investigator for the same. This shows the
existence of several lacunae existing in the means of selection of students into medical
profession at entry level [21,22,24,25,26]. These studies have criticized the existing means of
selection of students based purely on the basis of cognitive characteristics through tests
measuring solely the domain knowledge of sciences rather than the characteristics of what the
candidate possesses qualities in tandem to what is expected to be in a doctor. The above
thought has also been echoed by the Medical Council of India, in its Report and
Recommendations of National Workshop on "Medical Education An Appraisal" New Delhi:
MCI 1996; 4-5 (as cited in [24, 27, 28]) which had stressed that:
A humanitarian approach to the society and sound communication skills are some of
the entry level parameters to be checked in freshmen apart from their domain specific
knowledge in the subjects. However, due to the non-availability of a standardized tool
to assess the same, implementation throughout national level would not be possible.

The prevalence of a dysfunctional attitude to the profession in the youth of today envisages a
clarion call to re look into the attitude, traits and values possessed by students into the
profession at entry level.
CATHOL
IC MEDICAL INSTITUITIONS IN INDIA
The Catholic Church in India, since time immemorial has been pioneers in education,
health care services and social service throughout the country. The Catholic Directory of
India 2013 has figured India to be home to 17,535,429 Catholics with 23, 104 institutions run
by them. Out of these institutions, 12,781 are educational in service, 6603 are for social
welfare, 2692 provide health care services, 668 for the media and 360 are meant for spiritual
services (as cited in [29]). The 12,781 educational institutions spread across the country
include nursery schools, lower primary schools, upper primary schools, high schools, higher
secondary schools, colleges, training schools, technical schools and professional institutions.
Late Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic Constitution of the Supreme Pontiff Ex Codre
Ecclesiae, has spoken about Catholic higher education institutions as offering their own
contributions to the Church and to the society through research, education of professional
training, by instilling the Gospel message of Christ. The objective of Education, as cited by
the Catholic Bishops Conference of India [30,31] , has stressed on the formation of basic
human values along with the spiritual, personal, moral and social developments of students
especially the marginalized ones in the society.
Amongst the Catholic professional institutions which cater to programmes in
engineering, medical, nursing, paramedical and health allied, law and education- six of them
are medical colleges. These are situated in the states of Kerala (with three medical colleges
to its credit), Karnataka (with two medical colleges) and Jharkhand, with one medical
college, namely:

Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala - managed by reverend

priests of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate (CMI)

Jubilee Mission Medical College & Research Institute, Thrissur, Kerala

governed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Trichur, Kerala

Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Thiruvalla, Kerala
run by the Thiruvalla Archieparchy of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore, Karnataka- a unit of Father Muller

Charitable Institutions, a Registered Society sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of

Mangalore
St. John's Medical College, Bengaluru- established by the Catholic Bishops

Conference of India (CBCI) and run by the CBCI. Society for Medical Education.
Constant Lievens Academy of Health Sciences, Ranchi, Jharkhand yet to be
established by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) and run by the
CBCI Society for Medical Education

Medical Science as a career is perceived to be noble since its goal is to save lives and
relieve suffering, providing an opportunity to serve fellow human beings more than any other
career. That is why the status of the doctor is many a times considered equivalent to a
wonder worker or divine healer. Few medical students have reported as considering the
profession to be sacred and envisaged themselves as the representatives of God on earth by
alleviating the sufferings of the deceased [9]. This thought resonates with serving humanity,
especially the poor and the needy [4] and social service [5] as cited by adolescents for
wanting to take up the profession.
Catholic institutions of higher education must function with the hope of fruitfully
living their Pastoral Ministry of integrating their religious and moral principles with their
curricular and co-curricular activities, as highlighted in Ex Codre Ecclesiae [32]. The reaches
of its Catholicism must be far fledged such that its influence is seen in all spheres of its
functioning. Ex Codre Ecclesiae exalts the significance of this Ministry with the objective to
improve ones spiritual development especially of those who are Catholics. This emphasises
the union of human and professional education with religious values in the light of Catholic
doctrine thereby succeeding in uniting intellectual learning with the religious dimension of
life. Gravissimum Educationis 10, has highlighted the importance of scientific inquiry as a
method to inculcate scientific temper in the student community. This should enable deeper
understanding of the disciplines taught in colleges and universities of the Church, by
acquiring and disseminating knowledge pertinent to the methods and principles of the
respective subjects taught. Questions of current interest must be raised and discussed with the
intention of synchronizing faith and science to create evangelical leaders, capable of fulfilling
the responsibilities of tomorrows society.

Textual analysis of the vision and objectives of these six colleges resonate much with
what is expected from Ex Codre Ecclesiae, the Medical Council of India and that of the All
India Catholic Education Policy, 2007. These can be grouped under three broad perspectives
with the objective of enhancing:
i) Professional Competencies in the medical student
ii) Value Consciousness adept to the Profession and
iii) Catholic Dimension of Faith
The vision and mission of the six Catholic medical colleges with respect to the development
of the Professional Competencies of the medical student envisages the medical student to
possess adequate:

Compassion for the sick [33,34,35,36,37,38]

Develop competency in the student [35]
Advocating a holistic approach to patient care inclusive of physical, social and

psychological healing [34,35,36] and

Fostering a spirit of healing vocation to staff and its students [33]

The perspective of Value Consciousness adept to the Profession includes dimensions of

Respect for life from womb till its natural end [ 33,34,35,36]
Developing values of honesty, integrity in their students and development of sound

moral values [33,35,36] as stated in the Gravissimum Educationis

Promoting values of love, brotherhood and non-violence [33,34]

The Catholic Dimension of Faith encompasses

Evoking a spirit of service [33]

Care for the underprivileged and marginalized sections of the society [33,35,36,37]
To grow in the spiritual strength and in adequate Christian formation of students
[33,34,36] as mentioned in the Ex Codre Ecclesiae

A startling irony as pointed out by Vaz [39] is the non mention of Christ in the Mission
Statements of these Medical Colleges. Margaret Hogan (as cited in [39] ) has stressed on the
need to keep Christ at the centre of any Mission- to be in resonance with what a Mission
proclaims, articulates and seems to practice.
SUSTENANCE IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

Selection of the right students into the profession of Medical Science has been
debated in literature over years [21, 22, 24, 25, 26]. Once into the profession, sustenance is a
challenge owing to the rigorous demands of the profession. Students not able to cope with the
struggle end up discontinuing their medical studies in the first or second years. This thought
has been substantiated by Choudhary et al. (1997) (as cited in [40],) leading to 5.4% wastage
of precious medical seats. One of the reasons cited in literature by drop outs is the non
realization of medical science as their vocation [40, 41, 42].
EXPECTATIONS FROM PROSPECTIVE MEDICAL ASPIRANTS
Professors from premier Catholic medical colleges in the country were consulted to
know about their expectations of an adolescent wanting to take up the profession at entry
level. The expectations conveyed to the investigator on personal communication are as
follows: Compassion for the sick has been recurrently highlighted as the most prime requisite
to be possessed by the candidate. Since the profession challenges the emotional endurance of
the medical student, adolescents ought to be emotionally mature in handling situations of life
and death. Sound skills in listening and communication become another requisite as the
profession demands the individual to harness the knack of consultation through the
development of the above mentioned skills. Along with these, the ability to think critically
and scientifically in is to be honed with the intention of promoting the spirit of inquiry.
Considering the fact that the profession challenges the intellectual and clinical competency of
the learner in every walk of their life, chances of discontinuing the profession do exist- owing
to the inability to cope with the pace of studies. Hence, relentless ability to work hard along
with steadfast commitment to the profession is a mandate. Medical science expects both the
learner and the doctor to express them in the right demeanour with a moral code of conductfor which the values of honesty, integrity and humility is a must.
Father Muller Medical College has highlighted what is expected to be imbibed by
students,

once

admitted

into

the

course

of

medical

studies

[34].

These

include development of
virtues of brotherly love, compassion in a spirit of service, respect for life
from womb to tomb, deepen their knowledge and skills in different fields of
medical sciences and to grow in spiritual strength.

Certain faculty from a Catholic medical college in our country hold different
perspectives regarding the attitude of entry level medical aspirants, as personally
communicated to the investigator. Considering the fact that these are adolescents, passing out
of higher secondary education, it is but unfair to expect these freshmen to possess the right
orientation to ethics in compliance with those expected in from Catholic medical colleges or
from the profession of Medical Science in general. One of the Catholic medical colleges in
our country used to hold a rigorous five day interview process for the selection of its
candidates, where the value orientation and ethical perspective of the candidate is assessed in
issues concerning medical interest.
Many Catholics believe that a career in medicine is a calling from God and look to a
tradition that describes Christ as the Divine Physician who came to heal a wounded humanity
[43]. Catholic Medical Education provides possibilities for personal growth of the medical
student emphasizing on values of commitment to service as a moral vocation. Such
institutions ascertain the fact that one is called to be a physician with the divine purpose of
healing the sick [43]. This moral grounding calls for ethical commitments as in the case of
medical termination of pregnancies, embryonic stem cell research and assisted suicide.
Medical colleges worldwide screen candidates for those who support Pro Life. The interview
selection process to applicants in Catholic medical colleges pose several open ended
questions related to ethical issues. This is done with the objective of knowing the stand of the
candidate and to check their ability to articulate issues related to medical ethics. The Sacred
Ecumenical Council has also encouraged the youth to be motivated to appraise moral values
with a right conscience for a deeper knowledge.
Vaz, 2015 [39] has stressed that an atmosphere conducive for persistent faith
formation must be provided in Catholic Medical Colleges whereby adolescents who gravitate
towards Medical Science at the age of seventeen or so, experience the spiritual support
required for the profession. Rather than narrowing down to mere dos and donts Catholic
ethics must be contextually faith-based and requires a broader dimension of bioethical
support. It should aim at the holistic development of the individual laced with reflecting the
appreciation of the sanctity of life. It is this faith based support provided by institutions and
the laity involved in healthcare services that must guide the practice of the medical student
throughout their lives.
CONCLUSION

Despite being a profession that challenges the intellectual competency and skill of the
profession, Medical science is still one of the most sought after career for adolescents- the
reasons being many. Nevertheless, the number of aspirants for the profession of Medical
Science will never recede in a country like India where the honour advocated to it is plentiful.
The objective of the functioning of the Catholic medical colleges in our country shows that
they play a pivotal role in spreading the mission of the healing ministry of Christ on earth.
Since, one of the colleges to be established is in remote locales- namely the Constant Lievens
Academy of Health Sciences, Ranchi, Jharkhand- the call of vocation is to be felt widespread.
Catholic medical education ascertains ethics and moral commitment as the prima challenge to
the profession. Expecting the medical aspirant to possess immense compassion for the sick; a
service bent of mind and respect for life are three essential requisites to be possessed by any
medical aspirant, as stated in the visions of these six medical colleges. However, the success
of these colleges in imbibing the Catholic Doctrine with the ideals expected from the
profession- in their adolescent population- could be tangible only once the medical students
graduate from these institutes and confront situations in life where these ethics and moral
commitment are challenged.

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