Ramsey Chammaa was intent on going to medical school in his own country, the United Kingdom, but when he didn't get the grades he needed for his offer he decided to take on the challenge of medicine in the Czech Republic
You might not think studying medicine in the United Kingdom could be seen as a luxury, but I think it is. At school, I felt medicine was the only real calling for me; other opportunities seemed enticing but not worth a life long commitment. After an interview, I received an offer from a university in London; the future for which I had struggled seemed like it would become reality.
Something I hadn't planned for happened next; I didn't get the grades I needed for my offer, and, worse still, I didn't know what to do. That's when I heard about the possibility of studying abroad.
An agency offered me the chance to apply to one of four universities around the world either in America (quickly eliminated by the prospect of facing debt for the next 15 years), Moscow, Warsaw, or Pilsen in the Czech Republic. Of course I chose Pilsen, home of Pilsner beer and the highly underrated car company, Skoda. But my decision was based on Pilsen's relative proximity to home rather than its namesake commodity and famous export. All that was left was to pass a routine entrance exam and an oral exam with the vice dean of admissions.
My university is called Charles University, and it was founded in 1348 by King Charles IV of Bohemia. It is the oldest university in central Europe and its faculties of medicine span the length and breadth of the Czech Republic. Pilsen is an industrial city and is misrepresentative of the rest of the country, which is stunning and full of natural beauty.
The six year course is traditional--that is, it is split into three years of preclinical study and three years of clinical teaching. Czech students and foreign students are taught separately.
With a Czech medical degree, doctors can work anywhere in the world provided they pass a conversion exam for the required country--for example, from the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) in the United Kingdom or the United States medical licensing examination. The General Medical Council formally recognises the course, so the largest foreign group of students at Charles' University is British.
The course is taught in English, except for compulsory lessons in Czech language in the first two years. The first year of Czech is aimed at helping students with basic communication skills needed in everyday life; the second year focuses on teaching terminology specific to clerking patients. If you thought you had problems communicating with patients in your home country, imagine taking a history from a Czech patient a with facial nerve palsy and only every fifth word makes any sense to you.
Our timetable is divided into lectures and practicals, with the former optional and the latter compulsory. If you miss a lecture here in Britain, the likelihood of a professor remembering your absence is quite remote. The same cannot be said in Pilsen, where there are about 30 foreign students in each year, though this plays little on the conscience of most students.
The course differs from United Kingdom courses by having credits--tests in every subject up to the end of the third year--which are prerequisites for sitting final exams. The final exam usually comprises a written paper and then an oral exam and depending on the subject a practical as well--for example, an autopsy in pathology or a patient history and physical examination in medicine.
Unfortunately, procedures on humans are more restricted in the Czech Republic--specifically in performing invasive procedures. However, there is more freedom to experiment on laboratory animals, so pathophysiology practicals provide many of the highlights for me, including castration, adrenalectomy, and induction of a lesion into the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus of a rat. As this is responsible for the satiety centre, the rat went into a 24 hour feeding frenzy.
Extracurricular life, such as sporting activities, are sadly not organised by the university for foreign students, but this doesn't deter students from organising their own events. The climate is ideal for skiing and snowboarding in the winter in the mountains of Sumava, only an hour's drive away, where temperatures fall to -20ºC. The baking summers (30ºC) make it possible to indulge in water sports or to sunbathe and rid yourself of the ghostly complexion plaguing you for most of the year. If you are a keen cinemagoer, all the new films released at home and in the United States are released here, usually in English. If you're looking for culture or tourist sites, Prague is an hour away.
Coming to this country was hard at first. It was my first time away from my home and friends, and the people here spoke little English. Communication was mainly by "sign language," making strange noises, or by drawing things on the windows of cars. The mentality and traditions were different: the country used to be under communist rule and so people looked at us with scepticism, especially elderly people. But now, in my fifth year, I have a solid grasp of the language and have gained important life experiences, independence, and a different view of life. Best of all I get to lead two different lives. I believe that all things happen for a reason, so even if I could go back in time, I wouldn't change a thing.
