On April 15, Dr Aqsa Shaikh, a self-proclaimed queer activist, teacher of community medicine at Jamia Hamdard and nodal officer of a COVID vaccination centre, sparked a controversy by saying that the medical curriculum in India teaches too much Anatomy and Biochemistry. Dr Aqsa also claimed heterosexual doctors should not teach about queer lives. Furthermore, she said, Instagram teaches more about sexual and gender Minorities than textbooks. Her statement attracted strong criticism on social media.

In a series of tweets, Dr Aqsa mentioned the points she had raised during a panel discussion on making Medical Curriculum queer affirmative at AIIMS. She said the fraternity should stop medicalising queer identities. Furthermore, she claimed that the Indian medicine curriculum is teaching too much of Anatomy and Biochemistry. According to her, 5.5 years were not enough to learn about health.

Dr Aqsa demanded that Medical Science should be turned into a Bachelor of Health and the students should be taught subjects of humanities with medicines. She said it is time to reverse Millers Pyramid, Empathy should be the base, not Cognitive domain. She claimed the CBME (Competency Based Medical Education) curriculum is flawed and suggested that doctors should be political.

Interestingly, she added that Heterosexual people should not teach about queer lives and demanded more marginalised communities should be brought in as teaching staff. According to Dr Aqsa, the current Transgender Act has many anti-queer laws, and it needs amendments. The education about queer should begin at the primary level and not at medical school. One of the most controversial statements she made in her tweets was that Instagram taught more about sexual and gender minorities compared to the textbooks.

Her statement has attracted sharp criticism, especially from the Medical community on Twitter. Dr Lira questioned why such discussions were even allowed by AIIMS. She said, From where is this irrational thinking seeping into #medical system? Why is AIIMS even allowing this? Medicine is pure Science unadulterated by Identity politics, religion and superstitions. One can practice medicine with basic human decency without needless affirmation.

Dr Pranay said, First, it made me laugh. Then I realised she was serious. Not just a tweet, but this was rather a panel discussion at AIIMS. Im worried now. Ridiculous is too small a term for this.

Dr Apporva Verma said, Too much anatomy? Seriously? While I get 1st point, Id like to know this persons qualification to have uttered such statement as the 2nd point.

Speaking to OpIndia, Dr Haryax Pathak said, While the issue in the hand of LGBTQ rights and awareness is a genuine one, there has to be a systematic approach towards it. It starts by educating people. The biology behind it. The history behind it. That means more Anatomy, more Biochemistry not less. Training empathy is required, but it is a slow process. Im against the claim that doctors must be political. I can have political preferences as an individual but they dont reflect in my professional life. Doctors dont differentiate or discriminate on a political basis.

He further added, Claims that Instagram teaches more than medical school are way harmful. There has to be a professional approach to medical education. Ironical that slurs of WhatsApp University are passed around while promoting Instagram education. He agreed there was a need for some legal amendments as transgenders are humans too, and they have rights equal to everybody else.

Originally posted here:
Too much Anatomy and Biochemistry, Instagram better than textbooks on sexual and gender minorities Jamia Hamdards Dr Aqsa Shaikh wants to change...