Leprosy
Mailing List – December 31st, 2010
Ref.: Leprosy
in the teaching curricula
From:
Ryan
T., Oxford, UK
Dear
Salvatore,
Pran's
dagger goes straight to the heart (LML Dec. 18th, 2010). Unfortunately
Dermatology gets too little space in the
Oxford
curriculum. All medical
students attending for a short course see first of all a large
(updated by myself) poster on Leprosy and that is all. That
is why I emphasise the elective period when visits to
India
, S America, and
Nepal
attract them to look for a subject to study and none better than
leprosy. I invite
students to accompany me on my regular trips to
India
.
Getting
Leprosy into the general curriculum, sadly, is unlikely to compete
with all the very common problems they must be expert on when they
become family practitioners in the
UK
. They will not see
leprosy in
Oxford
clinics. If in
India
and
Nepal
for example those centres regularly accepting students were to upgrade
the teaching so leprosy was seen as part of Dermatology and at the
same time financial help with travel was facilitated then we might
recruit future leaders of the field.
I
am directing my energies in that direction but will copy Pran's mail
to those who plan the
Oxford
curriculum.
Terence
