National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences - [NIMHANS], Bangalore

I’ll be sharing with you my opinion on both.

As a 6-year MCh candidate, you’ll rotate through 10 months of general surgery. However, general surgery skills aren’t of much use in Neurosurgery, except the very basic knot-tying and suturing skills. You can also acquire those from dedicated lab practice. The other techniques followed in Neurosurgery are very different from those followed in general surgery. 

Neurosurgeons generally use access surgeons (thoracic surgeons or urologists) to perform unconventional approaches to the spine. It is much safer for the patient. Also, opting for a 6-year course after MBBS means one less entrance exam.

So it isn’t very beneficial for you to take up 3 years of MS general surgery. I would recommend you choose the direct 6 year Mh Neurosurgery course at AIIMS or NIMHANS instead.

Here is the routine of a Neurosurgery resident at NIMHANS.

The department is subdivided into 6 units, each of which is headed by an internationally acclaimed faculty member. The day of a resident starts at around 6 AM with a routine assessment of patients in all the wards under one’s respective unit for the month. 

This is followed by academics which start at 8 AM. It runs for 1-1 ½ hours. During this time, the cases posted for surgery are presented by senior residents. These are then discussed among faculty members and residents to reach a decision for the optimal treatment of that case.

After this, the senior residents head to the OT complex, and junior residents present rounds to the faculty. Decisions on further treatment/discharge are made during the rounds.

Junior residents then perform ward procedures like External Ventricular Drain Insertion, Lumbar drains, Lumbar Punctures, Shunt Taps, Fontanelle Tap, Tracheostomies, etc. under supervision. This is followed by evening rounds by the faculty/ senior residents. After these, any leftover work is completed. The evening ends with a post-op call to the respective consultant, and the duty ends at 9 PM when the night duty resident takes over. 

The OPD for a particular unit is held on a fixed day. It is also a casualty call day for the unit. Life as a neurosurgery resident is so busy that even having meals is like a luxury. 

NIMHANS will train you to practice evidence-based medicine and keep updated with all the recent developments in your field. It is one of the best places in India to practice Neurosurgery residency. 

The post-MBBS neurology course is taught by a Junior Resident for two years, for which he is paid around 55–65k depending on tax savings and HRA. After this, he serves as a senior resident for 3 years and receives a salary in the range of m 65–88k depending on tax savings and HRA. Usually, there is an increment of 3k every year. 

Once MD is completed, you will continue to be treated as a SR and the pay will also remain the same. However, when the next pay commission is due, there will be an increase of around 15k in the salary.

Hope this helps you!

Both AIIMS and NIMHANS are excellent options for pursuing a PG in neurology. While choosing one between the two, you might want to consider the following simple differences 

• Courses: DM Neurology is offered at both AIIMS and NIMHANS. Both the colleges offer this course after PG in General Medicine for which you will have to pass the exams conducted by respective institutes.
• Courses after MBBS : NIMHANS offers a direct 5 years of DM neurology course after MBBS while AIIMS does not offer any direct DM neurology course after MBBS. So If you choose NIMHANS, you will not have to take an entrance exam for admission to DM after PG in general medicine. NIMHANS certainly gives a huge edge in this aspect.
• Practice: AIIMS has a huge patient load most of which is dealt with by senior citizens. So, you will not get much clinical exposure and will be entrusted with trivial tasks only. NIMHANS on the other hand is a national-level neuro institute where you will get to deal with all types of patients right from the first year. 
• Location: AIIMS Delhi has a clear advantage over NIKHANS in terms of location.

So choose wisely! 

No, NIMHANS does not have registration as of now. The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) recognized NIMHANS’ M.Phil Clinical Psychology course from 2010–11 to 2014–15 as per the RCI’s 2017 List of the Institutions Approved by RCI. But now it does not. However, it does not mean the NIMHANS M.Phil Clinical Psychology course is invalid or not recognized. 

NIMHANS enjoys the status of an ‘Institute of National Importance ’ owing to its top-notch education quality and huge contributions to society. It therefore has become autonomous and has the right to regulate all its functions like starting a new course, conducting exams, recognizing its own degrees, etc. So, no approval of RCI is required for the degrees awarded by NIMHANS. 

In simple words, NIMHANS’ M.Phil Clinical Psychology degrees are no longer recognized by RCI but by NIMHANS itself because it’s now an Institute of National Importance. As for the value of its degrees, they enjoy good recognition globally.

I fail to understand why you are considering fellowship or practice options in the USA when India has highly advanced technologies and is at par with the USA. In fact, Neurosurgery is the one and only super-specialty in India that is known to have state-of-the-art faculties and super-advanced sophisticated instruments that are at par with all developed countries.

India now has almost all subspecialties of neurosurgery that are accredited by MCI. Once you complete your neurosurgery residency at NIMHANS, you will have a plethora of opportunities to do fellowships within India itself. Admission to these fellowship programs is based solely on entrance tests followed by an interview 

These are the most famous fellowships that are accredited by MCI 

• Cerebrovascular & skull base neurosurgery - 1 year
• Spine surgery - 2 years
• Epilepsy and functional base neurosurgery- 2 years
• Pediatric neurosurgery - 1 year
• Neurocritical Care - 1 year
• Once Neurosurgery - 1 year
• Neuro Vascular surgery - 1 year
• Skull base surgery - 1 or 2 year
• Neurovascular intervention - 2 years
• Trauma care - 2 years

Some of the institutes offering these fellowships are AIIMS, NIMHANS, PIGMER, Tata Memorial Hospital - Mumbai, CMC Vellore, etc

No, NIMHANS Bangalore does not offer an M.A. or MSc in Psychology. The Department of Clinical Psychology was started in 1954. Currently, it offers a two-year full-time M. Phil. program and a three-year doctoral program in Clinical Psychology. Additionally, the department also offers certificate programs in 

• Child and Family Therapy (6 months)
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (6 months)
• Positive Psychology Perspective (1 month). 

Additionally, NIMHANS also conducts workshops and conferences regularly.

In the NIMHANS entrance exam, around 90-100 MCQs are based on the foundation 19 subjects taught. These M Qs are similar to the ones asked in PG entrance exams of other medical colleges like AIIMS and JIPMER. So, the study material is more or less the same for other All-India exams.

Here are some excellent book recommendations for the Neurology part 

• Harrison for neurology
• Ganong for neurophysiology
• Snell's neuroanatomy
• Neurobiochemistry from Harper
• Neuro-microbiology from Paniker
• Neuropharmacology from KDT
• Neuropathology from Robbins
• Neuro-ophthalmology from Parson
• Neuroradiology
• Psychiatry from Kaplan

Hope you clear the exam!