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IQMU 2022

The 6th Edition of the International Quiz for Medical Undergraduates was held in June 2022. While the online Back to Basics Quiz was held on the 4th and the 5th, the main event – Chiron, was held from 17th to 19th June. This was the first time IQMU was organised in a hybrid mode, combining the best of both online and offline formats. With over 150 participants for Back to Basics and close to 100 participants for Chiron, this was IQMU’s biggest year yet! Apart from all corners of India, contestants hailed from Malaysia, Hungary and Philippines as well.

To speak a little about its history, IQMU is a student-run International quizzing event. After an insightful trip for a medical quiz in Mexico, the students of KMC sought to create a competition facilitating academic and cultural exchange in Manipal. Thus, the International Quiz For Medical Undergraduates was conceived and has been running successfully since 2017.
IQMU’s vision is to serve as an entity dedicated to the development of innovative learning strategies and the creation of well-rounded physicians.

Back to Basics:

Back to Basics was conceptualised in 2021 as an attempt to promote the spirit of quizzing among 1st and 2nd year medicos. This year saw its second successful edition.
The first round was held on June 4th. It consisted of 40 questions ranging from MCQs, Fill in the Blanks, True or False etc. Participants could be seen giving it their all for those twenty minutes. The round was held on Zoom and Quizziz app and was carried out in teams of two. They were constantly proctored by IQMU members on the ZOOM call.

Following this, 12 teams advanced to the semi-finals based on their accuracy, speed and ability to solve the tricky tie-breaker questions. The Semi-finals were held on the morning of 5th June. This round was a Mental Relay that consisted of a single case in which the participants’ clinical acumen as well ability to work in a team were tested.

Only 6 teams made it to the finals of Back to Basics which was hosted by none other than Dr. Sufiyan Ibrahim, one of the best Quizzers KMC Manipal has ever seen. 1st round was Pounce and Bounce which kept the participants on the edge of their seats, 2nd round was Medical Trivia and followed by the Final Showdown.

After 2 days of vigorous quizzing, the winners for Back to Basics 2022 were declared:
1st Position: Aryahi Apte, Arushi Sharma (LHMC, New Delhi)
2nd Position: Pranay Sinha, Maurya Patel (Seth GSMC, Mumbai)
3rd Position: Tanvi Achanti, Shreya Mehta (KMC Manipal)

Chiron:

After two years of break, it was truly amazing to see teams from all over the country arriving to the Health Sciences Campus of MAHE to take part in Chiron 2022 – an epic battle of the brains that would go on to challenge them over the course of the next 3 days.

The Inaugural Ceremony was commenced with the lighting of the lamp. Dr. Sharath Kumar Rao, Dean of KMC Manipal delivered the Welcome Address. This was followed by the Organising Chairpersons – Bhavesh Srivastava and Shailja Sharma telling the audience a bit about the origins and visions of IQMU. The event was presided over by Dr. HS Ballal, Pro-Chancellor of MAHE, who delivered a memorable speech about the importance of continual learning. The Chief Guest, Dr. MD Venkatesh talked about the need for the spirit of quizzing to be inculcated in all medicos. The Guest of Honour, Dr. C Shanmugapriya, Professor of Biochemistry, Govt. Thoothukudi Medical College and a seasoned Unacademy Educator, gave us the audience a wonderful look into her own past days as a medical student, highlighting the inevitable ups, downs and bouts of self-doubt everyone faces eventually, but that with enough perseverance, nothing is impossible. With that, Chiron 2022 was officially declared open.

Day 1 was perhaps the busiest one of all. Two sets of Prelims, headed by Dr. Vinod Nayak and Dr. Chandni Gupta, three workshops and the much-awaited gala night, all took place within the span of twenty-four hours. Cutting Edge, the student surgical society of KMC hosted ‘Enigma’ – a dynamic escape room style event. Justitia, India’s only student-run Forensic Medicine Club hosted ‘Jigsaw’ – a mind-boggling puzzle game and finally, Tempus Pretioso, the Emergency Medicine Club of KMC placed the participants in a blood-pumping emergency simulation.

Day 2 began with The Quarter Finals, which tested the participants’ ability to find the connect among multiple conditions. This was followed by the Wildcard round, which gave a previously eliminated team a second chance to get back into the quiz. However, things became more challenging in the afternoon as the semi-finals began. With Dr. M Mukhyaprana Prabhu in-charge as the Quizmaster, there took place a gruelling mental relay round and a very innovative Step-2-Step round, following which, 6 teams advanced to the Finals.

With caffeine-fuelled vigour and the chance to win it all, the finalists arrived at TMA Pai Hall on the morning of Day 3. Dr. Sanchit Bajpai, noted ENT and Head and Neck surgeon from KMC Mangalore served as the quizmaster.

Pounce-and-bounce, Medical Trivia, Rapid Fire and the Wheel-of-Fortune were just few of the exhilarating rounds that kept the participants and audience on the edge of their seats. The final nerve-wracking Tiebreaker gave us the following winners of Chiron 2022:

1st Position – Aniket Bose (Midnapore Medical College, West Bengal)
Prem Tilak (BJMC, Ahemdabad)

2nd Position – Subash K, Sudhir R (Madras Medical College)

3rd Position – Harshita Umesh, Dr. Sanjay Goudar (Bangalore Medical College)

Apart from the cash prizes, the winners were awarded with stethoscopes, sponsored by Bombay Surgicals, Manipal as well as subscriptions to Unacademy, IQMU’s principal sponsor.

With that IQMU 2022 came to an end, but gave its participants and organisers innumerable memories and learning experiences that will be surely cherished for a lifetime.


Credits:- Team IQMU & Utkarsh Agrawal , Vice President, Core Council , KMC