Dr Pavankumar is from basavakalyan taluk, BIdar dist, Karnataka, He did MBBS from Mysore medical college and research institute, Mysore followed by DMRD from BJ medical college and Sassoon hospital pune. Now he is doing secondary DNB from Aster CMI hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka.
What is your Institute name?
Aster CMI hospital, which is part of Aster DM healthcare which have many hospitals across Asia.
What is the cutoff rank for your college?
For secondary DNB - 72.
For secondary DNB - 72.
No of residents/batch?
1 primary + 1 secondary. December 2020 is a special case as they are giving 1+1 extra as a compensation for cancelled june session.
1 primary + 1 secondary. December 2020 is a special case as they are giving 1+1 extra as a compensation for cancelled june session.
Number of beds in the hospital?
When I joined, it was mentioned as “ 509 “ in the hospital website. However in the documents submitted to NBE it is 300+. ( It is very important for the candidates who are willing to join the medical colleges, as DNB in a hospitals with 500+ beds are equal to MD) – Don’t ask random person for number of beds, call hospital and ask them to transfer the call to “ DNB coordinatorâ€, who will be knowing about it.
When I joined, it was mentioned as “ 509 “ in the hospital website. However in the documents submitted to NBE it is 300+. ( It is very important for the candidates who are willing to join the medical colleges, as DNB in a hospitals with 500+ beds are equal to MD) – Don’t ask random person for number of beds, call hospital and ask them to transfer the call to “ DNB coordinatorâ€, who will be knowing about it.
What are the usual working hours?
10 : 30 am to – 8 : 00 Pm ( Nine and half hours).
10 : 30 am to – 8 : 00 Pm ( Nine and half hours).
How frequent do you get emergency duty/24 hour duties?is there any post duty ""off""?
Ranging from 5 to 9/10, usually it is 6. No post duty off.
Ranging from 5 to 9/10, usually it is 6. No post duty off.
What do you do as 1st year,IInd year and IIIrd year?
I am secondary DNB resident, till now ( one and half year), I have spent 1 year in ultrasound and 6 month in CT and MRI.
I am secondary DNB resident, till now ( one and half year), I have spent 1 year in ultrasound and 6 month in CT and MRI.
For 6 month of ultrasound duty I was in healthcheck ( Doing health check USG ( usually around 25-30) and chest xrays) till after noon. In the afternoon and evening I used to do IPD, OPD and portable USG scans.
Rest 6 month of ultrasound duty – No healthcheck USG, only IPD, OPD and portable scans.
Till now, I have got total 6 month of cross sectional postings ( CT / MRI ) posting. In that I have spent around 2 and half month in console taking patient history and monitoring scans. 4 months I have spent in CT / MRI reporting room where I draft cases ( Make provisionals).
The bad thing is even when you are posted in CT / MRI, you are expected to cover ultrasound duties in the evening for 2 hours ( 6-8pm) and clear your assigned insurance xrays in between.
We also have a well equipped nuclear medicine department. But we didn’t get any postings there.
Fetal medicine is separate here. It is done by a gynecologist. We didn’t get any posting there.
One more drawback is the transvaginal and mammography ultrasounds are usually done by female radiologists. If you are a male primary DNB resident, it becomes difficult to learn these things.
For primary DNB,
Primary DNB didn’t get a single CT / MRI posting in last one and half year ( I know it is shocking). She has been assured of dedicated CT / MRI posting only when she get a junior ( Nearly 1 year 8 months). She get to see CT / MRI cases only on call.
The hospital have PACS, we have access to all scans from all systems. It will help you to see cross sectional cases when posted in CT and MRI.
There is also less number of procedure ( Barium swallow( zero), meal( zero), ivp ( zero), rgu and mcu ( 2-3 in a month)
Is there any useless work for residents?
No useless work.
No useless work.
What are the different modalities available?
a)XRay(3) – CR + DR + Portable.
b)USG ( 3 )- 2 in department + 1 in health check.
c)Elastography- available.
d)Mammography – available.
e)CT machine - One 128 slice Philips ingenuity, new machine, around 15- 25 scans done per day. Includes 4-5 f/u brain scans, leak studies, abdomen, thorax, temporal bone, pns and around 1 coronary CT per week.
f)MRI- 3 T Philips ingenia. Around 20 cases per day. Apart from Brain and spine MRI, MSK MRI, MRCP, MRI abdomen, MRI enterography, MRI defecography and cardiac MRI are performed here.
g)Interventions – Though there is intervention facility, no attempt made to post the residents in interventions. There is no scope to learn inteventional radiology here. I lost touch with all interventions I learned during my DMRD.
How much is the stipend for Ist year, IInd year and IIIrd year?
For primary DNB
35k, 37k, 40k.
For secondary DNB
37k and 40K
Is there any compulsory bond service?
No, as of now DNB institutes do not have bond service.
No, as of now DNB institutes do not have bond service.
How is the faculty? Any superspecialists? faculty with fellowships?
We have consultants with good experience, fellowship in interventional radiology and body imaging.
We have consultants with good experience, fellowship in interventional radiology and body imaging.
How frequent are seminars/pgp?
Almost zero.
Almost zero.
How is the accommodation?
No hostel facility, no mess facility provided. I rented a house near hospital.
No hostel facility, no mess facility provided. I rented a house near hospital.
Anything you have to say about the city in which your college located?
Bangalore. It was a garden city. But as the unplanned development went on rampage, we are struck with heavy traffic and pollution. Cost of living is more and stipend is less which makes life harder.
Bangalore. It was a garden city. But as the unplanned development went on rampage, we are struck with heavy traffic and pollution. Cost of living is more and stipend is less which makes life harder.
How much you rate your college?
3 / 10.
3 / 10.
Are you happy with your choice?
No
No
Anything else you have to say?
Though there is good infrastructure to provide a well organized training for DNB residents, the department lacks academics, rotational postings.
Though there is good infrastructure to provide a well organized training for DNB residents, the department lacks academics, rotational postings.
We have intervention, fetal medicine and nuclear medicine here, which is a good thing. But the sad part is you don’t get any posting there.
Stipend is less, it matters considering the cost of living in Bangalore ( No hostel and mess facility – applies to most DNB institutes here) added with DNB fee of 1.2L. If you are a married single working person without much financial support – Be careful.
DNB residents ( secondary) here are treated as cheap labors to compensate duties in the evening shift. Which is same for many DNB institutes ( only few are exceptions).
There is no training programme for primary DNB residents either.
My MRI has improve after joining this institute however I lost touch with female imaging ( obs, mammo, tvs) and interventions.
To be honest, for doing DNB, from an academic point of view Bangalore hospitals are not a good choice, as almost all these institutes lack female imaging ( Done by gynecologist). The academic environment and enthusiasm compared to Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai appears dull.