kochi girls now outnumber boys in admission to mbbs dental and most of the ayush courses in the state the trend over the last five years admission year 2017 to 2021 shows that 82 seats of the total seats in different streams of medicine are filled with girls with the maximum number of girls 89 taking admission in homeopathy followed by 88 in ayurveda in mbbs 65 of students joining the course are girls much higher than the national average of 51this is a silent revolution happening in the health education field in the state and we expect this to bring in a positive qualitative change in healthcare because of their natural empathy and kind nature women may be able to deliver better as a healthcare professional than men said dr mohanan kunnummal vice chancellor kerala university of health sciences kuhsdata from kuhs shows that in mbbs course between admission years 2017 and 2021 girls cornered 15862 seats when compared to 8722 seats by boys this increase is much more than the trend witnessed worldwidethe ratio is further set to change this year if health professionals are to be believed we understand that this academic year of the total students who have taken admission to mbbs course so far more than 70 are girls this shift slowly started in 2010 and now the gap has become huge dr n sulphi president indian medical association imakeralathe gap gets wider as one looks at the data of ayush courses especially ayurveda homeopathy siddha and unaniof 5888 seats in ayurveda 5187 are with girls and of the total 1719 seats in homeopathy 1524 girls joined though there are very few seats for siddha and unani medicine even here girls outnumber boys of the 140 seats in siddha medicine 111 were taken up by girls and in the 238 seats in unani 205 girls joinedin dental surgery in the last five years of the total 10372 seats available 8761 were filled by girlsso why are fewer boys joining medicine while some blame it on the coachingled mbbs admission dr v g pradeep kumar member kerala state medical council said medicine is a tough course and the study period throughout is stressful you are 30 plus by the time you finish your studies for boys there are so many new options available migrate abroad venture into a new course that makes them financially secure early in life the antagonistic attitude of the society lower salaries extended working hours also is considered a disadvantage by boyshowever this trend has worried public health experts in the state the big question is where are the missing boys this trend needs to be studied in detail added public health expert dr b iqbal