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Importance of Physics Education for the Undergraduate Medical Students of Bangladesh Dr. Ramit Azad, PhD in Physics and Mathematics Department of Operations Management American International University-Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh and Dr. Lourdes Reyna Penaranda Villegas PhD in Biological Sciences Abstract The study is done to identify one of the remarkable lacking in conducting undergraduate medical course curriculum (MBBS) in Bangladesh and that is the absence of the study of physics. Physics deals with the most general laws of nature. The human body and its components are physical objects that can be viewed, measured and altered in ways that resemble what a physicist might do with any physical object. There is a long tradition of physicists and physics-based techniques making important contribution to biology and medicine. The relationship between physics and medical science proves that collaboration between different disciplines can be hugely productive. Physics is at the heart of many medical techniques, and life scientists are finding new ways to study biological matter. Bio-systems are based on the same laws as physical systems. Medical physics is an applied branch of physics concerned with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the diagnosis, management and treatment of human disease. Some vital areas of application are ionizing radiation, imaging with X-rays, ultrasound and MRI, nuclear medicine, electroencephalography, electrocardiography, thermography, hyperthermia, optical imaging, and RF and laser surgery. For this purpose an internet survey has been conducted and it is found that medical students in different highly developed countries like USA, Russia, Germany, England, France etc. are studying physics long before. Unfortunately the study of physics is not included in the undergraduate medical education curriculum in Bangladesh. Some may raise question, whether it is really meaningful to teach physics in undergraduate since it is taught in the higher secondary schools. However, the course taught in the secondary school level it is very much general. For the better understanding of the subject and its correlation with future professional activities is necessary to study physics at advanced level. For instance physics is taught in BUET and other universities teaching engineering. Pharmacy students are also studying physics. Now it is suggested that physics courses should be included in the undergraduate medical curriculum in Bangladesh. This course will facilitate to understand the advanced medical courses. Key words: medical education, physics, medical techniques, life science, medical physics, interdisciplinary correlation. 1. INTRODUCTION The physics has wide application to medicine. Physics is changing the way medicine is practiced. While a doctor will still use a stethoscope, a diagnosis now often requires devices that make use of sophisticated physics. As a consequence of technological evolution of medical science, doctors are more and more recognizing the influence of physics to medicine. The history of the application of physics to medicine started in the Islamic Golden Age. De Gradibus an Arabic book published by Muslim physician Al-Kindi (801-873 CE) was the first attempt at serious quantification in medicine. Al-Kindi also developed a system based on the phases of the moon, that would allow a doctor to determine in advance the most critical days of a patient’s illness [1]. Ibn Sina the father of modern medicine in his famous book The Canon of Medicine (1025 C.E.) [2] , (the first book dealing with evidence based medicine) established a set of rules, one of them is “The quality of drug must correspond the strength of the disease. For example there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases, so that they would have no effect on them.”The law is directly related to the heat and thermodynamics chapter of physics. The contribution of famous Muslim physicist Ibn Al-Haytham (Al-Hazen) to anatomy and physiology include many improvements in our understanding of the process of visual perception in his Book of Optics [3], published in 1021. Much later in Europe Leonardo da Vinci, showed profound interest in the mechanics of human locomotion. The subsequent gradual development in physical tools contributed to advances in the medical sciences. One outstanding example is the microscope by Leeuwenhoek during the 17th century. The development of electromagnetism in the 19th century enabled physicists to make contributions to medical treatment and diagnosis. D’Arsonval, a French physicist, pioneered the therapeutic use of high-frequency electric currents and pointed the way towards development of critical measuring instruments. Thus electrocardiography and electroencephalography was developed. The discoveries of X-rays and radioactivity by the physicist Roetgen in 1895 and Becquerel in 1896 were rapidly followed by the application of ionizing radiations to the diagnosis and treatment of disease. This actively has been primarily responsible for bringing physicists directly into the sphere of hospital. Bio-systems are based on the same laws as physical systems. Medical physics is an applied branch of physics concerned with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the diagnosis, management and treatment of human disease. Some vital areas of application are ionizing radiation, imaging with X-rays, ultrasound and MRI, nuclear medicine, electroencephalography, electrocardiography, thermography, hyperthermia, optical imaging, and RF and laser surgery. Considering the profound relation of physics with medical science highly developed countries like USA, Russia, Germany, England, France, Italy, Ukraine, etc. included the physics education in their medical schools. 2. METHOD An internet survey was done to different countries’ undergraduate and post-graduate program to find out if physics is taught at that level. Discussions were also performed with doctors who studied abroad and also in Bangladesh. 3. RESULTS i) In many medical institutions of USA, medical physics is taught. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine is one of them [4]. ii) In all medical institutions of Russia, medical students are studying physics. [5] ii) Three Canadian universities currently offer undergraduate medical physics degrees. iii) Lund University of Sweden teaches physics to medical students. iv) In Bosnia and Herzegovina, medical students study biophysics. [6] v) In Belgium, medical students are taking general scientific courses, biophysics is one of them. vi) Medical studies in France include biophysics as a first year course. [7] vii) In Germany the first two years medical school consists of classes of basic sciences, physics is one of them [7]. viii) In Italy first three years are devoted to basic subjects including physics [7]. ix) Charles university (Univerzita Karlova) in Prague (Czech Republic) teaches physics to the first year medical students. [8] x) In Japan also medical students are studying physics. xi) In the MBBS course in India, in phase-1 some pre-clinical subjects are taught Biophysics is one of them [9]. Also there are books on Medical Physics written by Indian authors [10]. xii) According to the course curriculum of Bangladesh medical colleges, physics is not at all included. Thus the Bangladeshi doctors are deprived of gaining valuable knowledge in physics that could contribute some ground-breaking research outcome in near future. 4. DISCUSSION The inclusion of physics education in the medical schools of different highly developed countries shows its importance. Some may raise question, since physics is taught in the secondary schools, is it really meaningful to teach it in undergraduate courses? However, the course taught in the secondary school level it is very much general. For the better understanding of the subject and its correlation with future professional activities is necessary to study physics at advanced level. For instance physics is taught in BUET and other universities teaching engineering (American International University-Bangladesh teaches physics in engineering faculty which includes nuclear physics and modern physics). Pharmacy students are also studying physics. The course should cover all necessary branches of physics (mechanics, electricity and magnetism, fluids, heat, sound, atomic and molecular physics, optics etc.). The physical concepts should be medically oriented with the intention of relating physics to the students’ future professional lives. Each topic should start with a medical case related with medical diagnosis and treatment. It is well known that vital areas of application of physics in medicine are ionizing radiation, imaging with X-rays, ultrasound and MRI, nuclear medicine, electroencephalography, electrocardiography, thermography, cardiac pacemakers, hyperthermia, optical imaging, and RF, laser surgery. Once the equipment is accepted, the doctors should have sound knowledge on all those machines, so that the equipment can be used clinically. The doctors also should have knowledge on equipments’ physical concept and their effect on human body. 5. CONCLUSIONS Considering the importance of physics education in medical science, it is suggested that physics courses should be included in the undergraduate medical curriculum in Bangladesh. This course will facilitate to understand the advanced medical courses. Now-a-days medical science has advanced beyond imagination but we are still following the eighties curriculum. If we don’t add physics in MBBS degree curriculum our students will fall behind in completion further in international arena and we have no right to deprive them in pursuing international standard education in Bangladesh. 8. REFERENCES 1. Ibrahim B. Syed PhD, "Islamic Medicine: 1000 years ahead of its times", Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine, 2002 (2): 2-9. 2. Ibn Sina, Canon of Medicine, 1025. 3. Ibn Al-Haytham, Book of Optics (Kitab al-Manair), 1011-1021 4. Viewed on 3rd January, 2011, Click This Link Click This Link 5. Viewed on 3rd January, 2011, Click This Link 6. University of East Sarajevo, viewed 3rd January, 2011, Click This Link 7. viewed 3rd January, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_school 8. viewed 3rd January, 2011, Click This Link 9. viewed on 4th January, 2011, Click This Link 10. Ahmed M Mohammad, Physics for Medical Students, Wheatmark, 2008. viewed on 4th January, 2011, Click This Link The paper was presented in a conference at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) on 11th January 2011.