We read the letter to the editor titled “Indian Radiologists Crave for Foreign Degrees” with great interest by Gothi R published in the Indian Journal of Radiology and Imaging 2023; 33(02): 280.[1] We would like to congratulate the author for raising the issue on an important research-related topic of interest for the radiology community and related stakeholders, less often talked about.
Though we agree with the major part of the author's opinion, we beg to differ in a few aspects.
First of all, we would like to highlight that the author's published letter to the editor does not have any references. Therefore, we assume that this is purely the author's personal perspective or “opinion.”
We have published a research paper titled “Subspecialization, Senior Residency, or Private Practice: The Dilemma of Final-Year Radiology Postgraduate Residents in India” in Indian Journal of Radiology and Imaging published online on January 31, 2023[2] that has exhaustively discussed the views of the final-year radiology postgraduate residents in India regarding their career option understanding of how to proceed in their professional life with options available.
One part of this questionnaire-based study was to assess their attitude toward writing foreign fellowship exams. The question framed was (supplementary material Q16. Any plan to write foreign fellowship exams like FRCR/ FRANZCR/EDiR? * Mark only one oval Yes /No/ Not sure) (asterisk indicates mandatory to answer in Google Sheet)
Our results showed that 60% of the respondents (out of a total of 210 participants) were willing to appear for foreign fellowship examinations such as FRCR (Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists), FRANZCR (Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists), and EDiR (European Diploma in Radiology), to name a few, wherein over half of them believed in the added benefit of these academic affiliations. Our study is in contradiction to the author's opinion.[1]
We believe that there is still a craze for these foreign degrees. Though our curriculum is not below par with foreign curricula and though we have excellent teachers, there is disparity in our health infrastructure in the country. Some state medical colleges don't have their own computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (CT/MRI) machines, while some CT/MRI machines run-on public-private partnership (PPP) models. Many medical colleges barring AIIMS-like institutes don't have their own intervention suite in the radiology department to teach interventional radiology. These lead to a feeling of inferiority complex for many postgraduate students which they want to make up for by pursuing foreign degrees or higher studies.
We agree with the author that concerned stakeholders have to introspect and Indian radiologists should take pride in our degrees and institutions rather than craving for a foreign certification of our competence unless they want to settle abroad.
In this regard, we would like to greatly appreciate the initiative taken by Indian College of Radiology and Imaging (ICRI) to introduce “Masters in Clinical Radiology” (MICR), an academic degree by conferred by the ICRI that has the international level of radiology assessment at par or more than at par with FRCR, so to say. It started in the year of 2022 which needs wider dissemination to Indian radiologists.[3]
