What do the MBBS undergraduates think about the subject of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology? A survey-based evaluation of perception

It is a very common point of discussion among the Forensic specialists that whether the MBBS students do have interest in the subject of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology and some of them would think towards it as their career perspective or not and what type of perception they do have exactly about the subject. To have a fair idea about this, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted among the MBBS undergraduate students of AIIMS Bhopal after dividing them in to different groups (Group A, B & C). In this survey, a total of 17 questions whose validity was determined before the survey were asked. The Students were asked to express their responses on a scale with grades ranging from 1 to 5. 80.7% of the students perceive the subject as interesting and 10.1% find it non-interesting while 9.1% say that they have no idea about it. When a question related with subject as their future career perspective was asked then only 14.2% were agreed to opt it as their career option. A paradox of high interest in the subject with poorer curiosity in opting it as a career option among the students has been reported. Therefore, there is need to enhance the scope and role of the subject to successfully face the future challenges of lack of sufficient number of forensic specialists in the field and in dealing with the emerging medico legal issues.