BDS to MBBS Bridge Course | Eligibility Criteria, Top Courses, Career Options, Jobs, Salary

BDS to MBBS Bridge Course 2021: Bachelor of Dental Science (BDS) and Bachelor of Medicine, and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) are the most pursued medical science courses in India. Aspiring candidates must appear for the National Entrance cum eligibility exam, commonly known as the NEET exam. Both the courses are UG-level courses, but there are some differences between the two.

BDS to MBBS bridge course is a distinctive approach that allows the dental science graduates to practice and work as a general physician in health sectors in multiple organizations such as clinics and hospitals all over the nation.

Latest News on Bridge Course, The bridge course is a university-level preparation course that prepares the graduates for their choice, where the bridge is the basis of admission to the primary degree program. Several countries have made advancements to their standards of the course and teaching, offering etching their name in the most effective and best education systems all around the world.

What is a Bridge Course?

Many colleges and universities have designed a bridge course to provide necessary information about the advanced subjects that the students will be trained in the future.

In other words, a bridge course can be considered as supplementary knowledge, which provides students with basic knowledge about advanced subjects which will be taught to them in the future. In India, this bridge course is also necessary for solving the problem of the shortage of medical professionals in rural areas.

Dentists who choose to pursue this course can practice as a doctor on completion of the course. The bridge course has the advantage as it imparts knowledge in a short time, helping the candidates with their skills development, directly improving the overall performance.

It allows graduates to take full-time employment, and for dental science students, it gives them a chance to change their career path on completion of the degree. BDS graduated are able to discover and learn about a wide range of surgery and medicine through this bridge course, becoming skilled medical professionals.

MBBS Bridge Course

What is BDS to MBBS Bridge Course?

The proposal is of starting a BDS to MBBS bridge course, with the MCI, DCI, and Ministry of Health reviewing the same curriculum. The proposal may help in allowing the dentist to practice just as the general physicians.

Efforts are being made within the country for improving the education system of the government. This is the most recent development in enhancing the education system by providing the best medical education in the country.

Although the full curriculum has still not been released or finalized, here are some aspects that the Bridge Course might cover later on as and when it is released.

  1. The Dental Council of India has proposed that the bridge course post-BDS will run for three years.
  2. The students can secure admissions by cracking the standard entrance test or according to the cumulative score attached during their BDS.
  3. The admission criteria may consider scores from the entrance as well as the cumulative score of BDS.
  4. The curriculum, examination scheme, method to evaluate, registration, and degrees are the criteria that will be the same as recommended for MBBS.

The BDS to MBBS bridge course has a distinct approach. It gives an opportunity to the graduates in Dental Sciences to practice as general physicians in organizations, hospitals, clinics, etc.

On successful completion of this bridge course, the graduates have to spend a minimum of three years working in rural parts of the country.

List of BDS to MBBS Bridge Course

The full list of the BDS Bridge Course has been listed in bullet points below:

  1. Histology, Bio-Chemistry, Physiology, and Anatomy.
  2. Pharmacology
  3. Physiology, Micro-biology
  4. Neurology, Pediatrics
  5. General Surgery, Otorhinolaryngology (ENT), Cardiology, Emergency Medicine

What is the Potential of this Bridge Course?

The Dental Council of India has recently recommended a BDS to MBBS Bridge course. The objective of the three-year program has two parts. The first objective which gets fulfilled through this bridge course is that it will benefit the BDS graduates looking for full-time employment opportunities.

The second objective is that since it is an innovative program, it will allow the Dental Aspirants to choose a different career path to complete the degree program.

Thus, the program has a vast potential helpful in filling the cavity created by the low penetration of skilled professionals in India’s medical sciences.

  1. Pediatrics
  2. Ear, Nose and Throat
  3. General Medicine
  4. General Science
  5. Gynecology
  6. Forensic Science, including toxicology
  7. Anesthesiology
  8. Radiotherapy
  9. Biochemistry
  10. Introduction to Humanities and community medicine
  11. Psychiatry
  12. Ophthalmology

BDS to MBBS Bridge Course Eligibility Criteria

India’s dental council has proposed specific eligibility criteria for the admission of the graduates who are willing to pursue this bridge course. The BDS applicants to the MBBS bridge course either have to appear in the entrance exam, or their admission will be made based on their BDS marks.

Sometimes, admission is granted to graduates with a combination of both the criteria mentioned above. Even though there is no framed curriculum, the possibility is that the bridge course may be according to the exam and syllabus pattern of MBBS.

To pursue this bridge course, the candidate needs to ensure that they have distinctive marks in their degree program. During the bridge course, some subjects include general surgery, pathology, oral medicine, forensic dentistry, biochemistry, anesthesiology, etc. Many colleges and universities provide this bridge course as long as the candidate fulfills the criteria.

To sum up, the eligibility criteria for BDS to MBBS bridge course is:

  1. The candidate must clear the entrance examination in the 3rd year of BDS.
  2. The aspirant must have an excellent cumulative score in the BDS program.

The Dental Council of India recommends the BDS to MBBS bridge course to provide the graduates with better employment opportunities. In India, most medical colleges and universities keep the BDS duration to the MBBS bridge course for three years.

After completing this bridge course, the graduates can have an MBBS degree, become certified physicians, or make other medicine and surgery growth.

Apart from full-time employment, this bridge course has another objective – to provide a chance for dental students to choose a different career path.

The Medical Council of India has provided some guidelines to start an MBBS curriculum for three years after receiving the proposal from the Dental Council of India (DCI). This is how this bridge course took place, and DCI made many efforts to make this thing possible for the betterment of BDS graduates by providing them with better employment.

BDS to MBBS Bridge Course Eligibility Criteria

Job Opportunities after the BDS to MBBS Bridge Course

The BDS to MBBS bridge course’s main objective is to provide the BDS graduates with full-time employment; hence, it is most important to discuss these job opportunities.

The bridge course graduates can get multiple job roles, and general physician is one of them. As a general physician, the graduates can get a job in some major hospital, clinic or some other healthcare organization all over India. There is a high requirement for competent doctors, and the bridge course is meant for that.

With the increasing demand for health specialists, there are endless job opportunities for this bridge course graduates.

When talking about government jobs, some essential steps are being taken to offer services in rural areas where the subsidized rental accommodation and rural will appeal to more doctors to go there.

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Curriculum of the BDS to MBBS Bridge Course

The BDS to MBBS course curriculum is yet to be finalized by the Ministry of Health and MCI but is inaction based on general guidelines. The curriculum will also be defined not to put in any specializations that will be hard for a BDS student to cope with. The same entrance exam will have a syllabus that is relevant to MBBS but not alien to BDS students.

The following developments have been considered for the BDS to MBBS Bridge Course:

  1. Only public and government universities will offer this course, but with revisions in the future private universities will also be given permission.
  2. The course will be for a period of 3 years from the 3rd year of the BDS program.
  3. The course will have a curriculum similar to MBBS but will differ in terms of difficulty levels considering the switch.

Importance of the BDS to MBBS Bridge Course in India

The country is not facing a scarcity of doctors but a lack of competent doctors. However, after the bridge course, the number of qualified and skilled doctors will increase on a large scale which will create more job opportunities.

By allowing the dentists to pursue MBBS, the government and DCI are trying to make a win-win situation for everyone. During this bridge course, there is a high requirement of providing specialization to the students; otherwise, there is no point in this bridge course.

Even though some healthcare experts do not agree with this rural healthcare of 3 years, some amendments can still be expected from the government and DCI. However, nevertheless, the bridge course initiative is expected to improve a lot of things in the entire healthcare sector.

Latest News on BDS to MBBS Bridge Course 2021

It is a popularly known fact that studying BDS is always the second choice for almost every student who is willing to enter the medical field. Not only this, our country has always faced a shortage of medical professionals considering our ever-growing population.

However, there are a minimal number of medical seats. One also has to keep in mind that there is an acute want of medical staff in our country’s rural areas.

One of the many such issues is the lack of employment opportunities for BDS students after completing their education.

With India currently facing these three significant problems in the medical sector, the MCI (Medical Council of India) and the DCI (Dental Council of India) have decided to co-ordinately come up with a 3-year course for the BDS students to make a straight shift to MBBS on clearing an entrance exam in their 3rd year.

This bridge course has also been accepted by NITI Aayog and is now facilitating all students looking forward to crossing the bridge between BDS and MBBS. This recent development will prove to be a massive advancement in the medical field of India.

Since the plan was brought to notice in 2019, and with that, we entered the pandemic period in 2020, the curriculum and other guidelines are yet to be finalized and announced. The program runs through some necessary policies and objectives for the current to make this critical shift.

How can one make sure that they will be able to Switch from BDS to MBBS?

Here we have listed below a few tips which will help you in becoming more confident with this bridge course from BDS to MBBS.

  1. Make sure to attain excellent marks in all your semesters while you are in your dental college. Since a cumulative total is considered for your entrance, a good scorecard is of high importance.
  2. Start preparing for your entrance test well before time because this chance will only be available once, and there is no going back in time.
  3. Study the subjects you think will coincide with the MBBS course in depth.
  4. Keep yourself aware of the application dates so that you don’t miss out on the opportunity.

What is the Basic Difference between BDS and MBBS?

Now that we have learned about the bridge course let’s know a little about the individual courses. Both the courses are undergraduate-level courses, but there are some differences between the two. The primary difference lies in the duration and curriculum of the respective courses.

While the BDS program is of 4.5 years, the MBBS course runs for 5.5 years, including the mandatory internship period. Overall, the Medical Council of India is responsible for the regulation of the MBBS program, whereas the Dental Council of India regulates the BDS program.

FAQs on BDS to MBBS Bridge Course

1. Is BDS to MBBS Bridge Course approved?

Yes, BDS to MBBS Bridge Course is approved by the NITI Aayog.

2. Is BDS tougher than MBBS?

MBBS and BDS are equally different. If you don’t want to pursue higher studies you can go for BDS rather than MBBS.

3. Is MBBS Syllabus the same as BDS?

MBBS Syllabus is almost the same as BDS and only a few subjects change.