Doctor’s profession

Nobody needs to be told that the doctor’s profession is one of the most essential and human. The doctor is a specialist in whose hands is  human life.

The care for the people's health is one of the main concerns of the state. In the Ukrainian State much attention is paid to the doctor’s training. Medical Institutes train general practitioners, surgeons, sanitary inspectors, pediatricians. Pharmaceutical and Stomatological Institutes train future stomatologists and pharmacists. There are also stomatological and pharmaceutical faculties in some medical institutes.

Any citizen of Ukraine who has a complete secondary education can enter a medical institute and become a student. The applicants take entrance examinations in Biology,Physics and Chemestry. Those who get good marks at the entrance examinations are admitted  to the institute.

The courses of studies last from four to six years. An academic year begins on the 1-st of September and is divided into two terms - the Autumn term and the Spring term. The students listen to the lectures, work in various laboratories and have medical practice in hospitals,clinics and chemist's shops. At the end of each term the students have to pass oral credit tests and examinations. During the first three years general subjects and medical and biological subjects, which are the basis for training doctors in any field, are studied. They sre physics, organic and inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, biology, genetics, histology, embryology and cytology, anatomy, physiology, biophysics.

From the third year the timetable begins to include subjects students will need for their future clinical work: microbiology, pathological anatomy and pathological physiology. In the fourth year students spend most of their time studying clinical subjects: surgery, therapy, obstetrics, gynaecology and psychiatry. In the final years narrow specialized subjects are studied: roentgenology and radiology, skin and venereal diseases, eye, ear, nose and throat diseases, nervous diseases, tuberculosis, infectious diseases, epidemiology. During the period of training at Medical Institutes students have their practical training three times. After the 3-th year students have a six-weeks practical training when they work as nurses. After the 4-th year they acquire practical skills  working as doctor’s assistants at therapeutic, surgical and obstetrical. After the 5-th year they work at a policlinic. So in five years they gain knowledge necessary for a general practitioner.

Having passed state examinations young doctors begin to work as interns at hospitals, clinics or sanitary epidemiological stations. The course of internship lasts from 2 to 3 years when a young doctor specializes in any field of medecine. Some graduates specialize in sanitation, epidemiology and hygiene and become sanitary inspectors. The most advanced specialists are engaged in research. They defend theses and obtain degrees of candidate of science.