Doctor of Medicine (MD) Aerospace Medicine: Admission, medical Colleges, eligibility criteria, fee details

MD Aerospace Medicine or Doctor of Medicine in Aerospace Medicine, also known as MD in Aerospace Medicine is a Postgraduate level course for doctors in India that is done by them after completion of their MBBS. The duration of this postgraduate course is 3 years, and it focuses on the study of various concepts related to the field of Aerospace Medicine such as stresses of aerospace flight, such as extreme temperatures, low atmospheric pressure, radiation, noise, vibrations, oxygen deprivation, and the strong forces of acceleration and deceleration.

The course is a full-time course pursued at various recognized medical colleges across the country. The top medical college offering this course includes Institute of Aerospace Medicine Indian Air Force, Bangaluru.

Admission to this course is done through the NEET PG Entrance exam conducted by the National Board of Examinations, followed by counseling based on the scores of the exam that is conducted by DGHS/MCC/State Authorities.

The fee for pursuing MD (Aerospace Medicine) varies from college to college and may range from around INR 1 to 2 lakhs per anum.

After completion of their respective course, doctors can either join the job market or pursue a super-specialization course where MD Aerospace Medicine is a feeder qualification. Candidates can take reputed jobs at positions as Senior residents, Junior Consultants, Consultants etc. with an approximate salary range of Rs 10 lakhs -20 lakhs per anum.

What is MD in Aerospace Medicine?

Doctor of Medicine in Aerospace Medicine, also known as M.D. (Aerospace Medicine) or M.D. (Aerospace Medicine) is a three-year postgraduate program that candidates can pursue after completing MBBS.

Aerospace medicine focuses on the clinical care, research, and operational support of the health, safety, and performance of crewmembers and passengers of air and space vehicles, together with the support personnel who assist operation of such vehicles.

National Medical Commission (NMC), the apex medical regulator, has released a Guidelines for Competency-Based Postgraduate Training Programme for MD in Aerospace Medicine.

The Competency-Based Postgraduate Training Programme governs the education and training of MDs in Aerospace Medicine.

The PG education intends to create specialists who can contribute to high-quality health care and advances in science through research and training.

The required training done by a postgraduate specialist in the field of Aerospace Medicine would help the specialist to recognize the health needs of the community. The student should be competent to handle medical problems effectively and should be aware of the recent advances in their speciality.

The candidate should be a highly competent Anaesthesiologist possessing a broad range of skills that will enable her/him to practice anaesthesiology independently. The PG candidate should also acquire the basic skills in teaching of medical/para-medical students.

The candidate is also expected to know the principles of research methodology and modes of the consulting library. The candidate should regularly attend conferences, workshops and CMEs to upgrade her/ his knowledge.

Course Highlights

Here are some of the course highlights of MD in Aerospace Medicine:

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria for MD in Aerospace Medicine are defined as the set of rules or minimum prerequisites that aspirants must meet in order to be eligible for admission, which includes:

• Candidates must be in possession of an undergraduate MBBS degree from any college/university recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
• Candidates should have done a compulsory rotating internship of one year in a teaching institution or other institution which is recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
• The candidate must have obtained permanent registration of any State Medical Council to be eligible for admission.
• The medical college's recognition cut-off dates for the MBBS Degree courses and compulsory rotatory Internship shall be as prescribed by the Medical Council of India (now NMC).

Admission Process

The admission process contains a few steps to be followed in order by the candidates for admission to MD in Aerospace Medicine. Candidates can view the complete admission process for MD in Aerospace Medicine mentioned below:

• The NEET PG or National Eligibility Entrance Test for Post Graduate is a national-level master's level examination conducted by the NBE for admission to MD/MS/PG Diploma Courses.

• The requirement of eligibility criteria for participation in counseling towards PG seat allotment conducted by the concerned counseling authority shall be in lieu of the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations (as per the latest amendment) notified by the MCI (now NMC) with prior approval of MoHFW.

• The following Medical institutions are not covered under centralized admissions for MD/MS seats through NEET- PG:

1. AIIMS, New Delhi, and other AIIMS

2. PGIMER, Chandigarh

3. JIPMER, Puducherry

4. NIMHANS, Bengaluru

5. Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum

Fees Structure

The fee structure for MD in Aerospace Medicine varies from college to college. The fee is generally less for Government Institutes and more for private institutes. The average fee structure for MD in Aerospace Medicine is around ₹ 113900 per year for the entire course.

Colleges offering MD in Aerospace Medicine

According to the National Medical Commission (NMC) website, the following medical colleges offer MD (Aerospace Medicine) courses for the academic year 2022-23.

Stipend MD Aerospace Medicine

Syllabus

An MD in Aerospace Medicine is a three years specialization course which provides training in the stream of Aerospace Medicine.

The course content for MD in Aerospace Medicine is given in the Competency-Based Postgraduate Training Programme released by National Medical Commission, which can be assessed through the link mentioned below:

During the training period, the student should undergo training in the following course contents:

Course contents

The course contents will be in four parts:

Course contents

The course contents will be in four parts:

Part I: Basic Sciences

(a) Aeronautics including Aerodynamics and principles of flight, Navigation, Navigational aids and Aeroengines.

(b) Applied Physics including Atmospheric Physics, Cabin pressurization, Acceleration forces, Vibration stress, Impact and Crash forces, Ejection trajectory analysis, Thermal Stress, Refrigeration, Effects of Noise, illumination, Optics and Radiation Space Physics.

(c) Bio-medical engineering including Basic of Electronics, Instrumentation systems, principles of physiological monitoring systems and their application, biochemistry, familiarization of electro-medical equipments in use in Aerospace Medicine, Electrical safety, element of biomechanics - solid and fluid mechanics.

(d) Medical statistics related biomedical research-descriptive studies, relations and predictions of variables, parametric and non- parametric tests.

(e) General physiology including cardiopulmonary physiology, mechanics of respiration, hemodynamics, regulatory mechanisms, functional assessment and ageing.

(f) Metabolic and endocrine biochemistry including bioenergetics and metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and amino acids, enzymes used in clinical diagnostics, free radicals and nutrition.

(g) Neuro-physiology including mechanics of sensory perception integration, reticular activating system, limbic system and physiology of emotions.

Part II: Aerospace Physiology

(a) High altitude physiology including respiratory physiology in flight, hypoxia and prevention, oxygen systems, decompression sickness. Rapid decompression, aero-medical problems in high altitude operations, hyper- baric oxygen medicine.

(b) Environmental physiology including thermal stress, thermal regulation and prevention of thermal effects.

(c) Acceleration physiology including G-LOC, SACM, Anti-G suit, PBG, cardiovascular and respiratory changes during acceleration, protection against +Gz, effects of –Gz, Transverse and lateral G.

(d) Fundamentals of space physiology simulation of micro G, conditioning, training and evaluation, life support systems, escape and survival, weightlessness, space sickness, countering gravitational and thermal stresses, vector cardiology in space environment, animal based experiments, extra vehicular activity in space and rescue.

(e) Physiology of women in aviation.

Part III: Applied Aerospace Medicine

(a) History of Aerospace Medicine

(b) Spatial Disorientation - static and dynamic, illusions, prevention, newer concepts.

(c) Human engineering including ergonomics and anthropometry, spinal evaluation, cockpit design and instrument layout, cabin work station layout, work load studies, aids for vision enhancement, ejection and escape systems survival aids - PSP, snow, land and sea survival, air casualty evacuation and disaster management, crash investigation.

(d) Human factors in civil and military aviation, CRM, human errors, hazards and flight safety.

(e) Design and aero-medical evaluation of flying clothing and life support systems as applicable to civil and military aircraft and aero-medical equipment.

(f) Civil aviation medicine including ICAO medical policies, DGCA India medical organization and policies, licensing medical examinations, flight duty time limitations, traffic and approach, air hygiene and sanitation, catering, epidemiological and immunological problems; IHO, air ambulance and air hospitals, long range and ultra long range airline operations.

(g) Preventive and Social Medicine including environment and health, pollution - air and water, sanitation and purification, occupational health of air and ground crew, health education and communication, NBC warfare and protection, non-communicable diseases, family welfare and immunization.

(h) Aero-medical problems in air-to-air refueling, long duration fighter flying, sustained operations and exercises, international exercises, UN Missions for peace keeping.

Part IV: Clinical Aerospace Medicine

(a) Internal Medicine including cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous and renal systems, gastroenterology, hepatology and metabolic disorders, rheumatological disorders, common medical disorders in aircrew, drugs and the flier.

(b) Aviation ophthalmology including physiology of vision and colour vision, optics, refraction and optometry, common eye disease, visual problems in aero-medical evaluation of ophthalmic disorders.

(c) Aviation otolaryngology including noise stress and conservation of hearing, vestibular functions, disorientation and their assessment, vestibular habituation, otitic and sinus barotraumas, deafness and sensory neural hearing loss, speech intelligibility, air sickness and its desensitivity.

(d) Aviation neuro-physiology including psychosis and neurosis, personality disorders, alcohol and drug dependence, psychosexual disorders, suicidal behavior, psychiatric emergencies, behavior therapy, biofeedback, sleep disorders, aviation related topics - head injury, fear of flying and aircrew selection.

(e) Aviation psychology including personality traits and assessment, aircrew selection, cognitive processes and abilities, principles of learning, stress management, motivation, low motivation for flying and its evaluations and applied aspects of behavioral sciences.

(f) Aviation pathology and toxicology, including collection, preservation and dispatch of specimens, histological findings, accident reconstruction and

investigation, identification of avian blood in aircraft accidents, chemical pathology, hematology, clinical pathology.

(g) Radiology including Radiodiagnosis and assessment of head, neck, spinal and other skeletal injuries following accident, abnormalities of skeletal system, radiodiagnostic methods in cardiopulmonary, gastro-intestinal disorders, radiation hazards in Aviation, medical evaluation including investigations, diagnosis and disposal of medical, surgical and other disabilities in aircrew. Importance of postmortem radiological investigations in aircraft accident investigations.

Career options

After completing an MD in Aerospace Medicine, candidates will get employment opportunities in Government as well as in the Private sector.

In the Government sector, candidates have various options to choose from which include Registrar, Senior Resident, Demonstrator, Tutor, etc.

While in the Private sector the options include Resident Doctor, Consultant, Visiting Consultant (Aerospace Medicine), Junior Consultant, Senior Consultant (Aerospace Medicine), Critical Care Specialist, Consultant Anesthesia Specialist etc.

Courses after MD in Aerospace Medicine course

MD in Aerospace Medicine is a specialization course that can be pursued after finishing MBBS. After pursuing a specialization in MD (Aerospace Medicine), a candidate could also pursue super specialization courses recognized by NMC, where MD (Aerospace Medicine) is a feeder qualification.

These include:

• Clinical/Civil/Military Aerospace Medicine.

• Space Medicine.

• Operational Medicine.

• Emergency Aerospace Medicine.

• Interplanetary & Space Station Medicine.

• Research and Development.

• Industrial Aerospace Medicine.

• Gerontology & Geriatric Aerospace Medicine.

Frequently Asked Question (FAQs) – MD in Aerospace Medicine Course

Question: What is an MD in Aerospace Medicine?

Answer: MD Aerospace Medicine or Doctor of Medicine in Aerospace Medicine also known as MD in Aerospace Medicine is a Postgraduate level course for doctors in India that is done by them after completion of their MBBS.

Question: What is the duration of an MD in Aerospace Medicine ?

Answer: MD in Aerospace Medicine is a postgraduate program of three years.

Question: What is the eligibility of an MD in Aerospace Medicine?

Answer: Candidates must be in possession of an undergraduate MBBS degree from any college/university recognized by the Medical Council of India.

Question: What is the scope of an MD in Aerospace Medicine?

Answer: MD in Aerospace Medicine offers candidates various employment opportunities and career prospects.

Question: What is the average salary for an MD in Aerospace Medicine postgraduate candidate?

Answer: The MD in Aerospace Medicine candidate's average salary is between Rs INR 10lakhs -20 lakhs p.a. depending on the experience.

Question: Is aerospace medicine a good career?

Answer: Aerospace Medicine sector works with the World Health Organization (WHO), International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Airport Council International (ACI). The career has excellent exposer to different international organizations and Global privet Companies.

Question: What do aerospace medicine doctors do?

Answer: An aerospace medicine physician is a health care professional who specializes in occupational and preventive medicine for pilots, astronauts, and other people who work primarily in aviation and aeronautics.

Question: Do aerospace doctors go to space?

Answer: Kjell Lindgren, MD, managed to do both. For six months in 2015, he served as a NASA flight engineer and the only physician on International Space Station Expedition 44/45. Aerospace physicians support the health, safety, and well-being of pilots, aircrews, and astronauts.