Conduct final-year PG exams at the earliest, NMC tells colleges

Nearly two months after the National Medical Commission (NMC) announced the postponement of final year postgraduate (PG) medical examinations by a month, the commission recently released another circular requesting all affiliated colleges to conduct the pending exams at the earliest

Nearly two months after the National Medical Commission (NMC) announced the postponement of final year postgraduate (PG) medical examinations by a month, the commission recently released another circular requesting all affiliated colleges to conduct the pending exams at the earliest.

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In an advisory dated June 22, NMC requested colleges to conduct exams depending upon the local Covid situation. “Covid-19 caused disruption in all walks of life in the country for the last year and a half, expectedly the medical students had to endure the major brunt of this,” said the circular.

“The NMC had to issue regular and pertinent advisories regarding matters concerning the examinations and students to tide over the crisis. Fortunately, Covid has started to show a retreating trend and therefore we are advising colleges to hold the pending examinations for PG speciality and super speciality courses at the earliest,” the circular added.

In April, the central government decided to extend the final year PG medical and dental exam by a month and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for postgraduate courses (NEET-PG) by four months.

Originally scheduled to take place in the month of May, PG final year exams were postponed by a month based on a circular by NMC to ensure all students are working across hospitals as the country was amid the peak of the second wave of Covid-19.

Even before the NMC advisory was released, the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) in the last week of May, had announced the examination timetable for these exams. As per the MUHS circular, the pending exams will be conducted in the month of August for all PG speciality, super-speciality and diploma courses.

Students, however, are still unsure if they’ll have enough time to prepare for their exams. “Most of us (students) are working every day at hospitals across the state and have had no time to prepare for our exams,” said Dr Prajakta Mhatre, another final year PG medical student.

In May, the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) had also approached MUHS as well as the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) to give final year PG students at least 45 days of preparation time for exams. “The authorities accepted our demand but till date, we haven’t received our relieving letters from DMER. Only once these letters are issued will we get to prepare for the upcoming exams, which commence from August 16,” said Dr Pranav Jadhav, vice-president central MARD.