Less than 5% students missed UG medical exams: MUHS

Figures released by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) show that 5% of second and third-year undergraduate (UG) medical students could not appear for their winter session exams

Figures released by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) show that 5% of second and third-year undergraduate (UG) medical students could not appear for their winter session exams. The exams, which concluded on June 30, were held in the physical mode and 94.92% students managed to appear for the exams overall.

HT Image

While nearly 40,000 undergraduate students were scheduled to appear for the exams on different days, collated data by the MUHS accounts for the number of students who missed exams every day between June 10 and 30. This shows that nearly 5% of the total strength missed appearing for the exam.

“Those absent for exams were students who missed the paper either because they were under quarantine due to Covid or failing to present a negative RT-PCR test at the beginning of the exam,” said an official from MUHS. He added that additional exams for these students will be held between July 30 and August 18 this year.

Originally scheduled to take place in the month of December-January, the second and third-year MBBS, BDS, and other paramedical and certificate course exams were postponed three times this year due to rising Covid-19 cases recorded across the state. From January this year, to February the exams were then scheduled to take place in April. However, due to the second wave of Covid-19 gripping the nation, these exams were once again postponed to June by the state government.

Finally, in May, the National Medical Commission (NMC) clarified that affiliated universities and colleges can conduct the pending winter session exams for UG students in June, which was immediately followed through by MUHS.

“Most of us had spent our waking hours working in various hospitals or with the local municipal corporation to fight against rising Covid cases, and the fear of contracting the disease was real. But we had no choice because the authorities were insistent on holding exams in the physical mode only,” said Prathamesh Shinde, a student. He added that some students missed their first two exams either because they could not reach the exam centre due to travel restrictions or could not produce a negative RT-PCR test while entering the exam centre.

In the first week of June, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court heard public interest litigation (PIL) filed by HERD Educational and Medical Research Foundation, a Nagpur-based NGO and a physiotherapy student Nitesh Dhanraj Tantarpale requesting either online examinations or vaccination for the nearly 40,000 undergraduates before the exams.

Refusing to give interim relief from the upcoming winter session examinations, the court, however, directed MUHS to issue an advisory to the principals of various medical colleges across the state and also to publish on its website indicating that it would be desirable that examinees should have themselves tested for Covid-19 and should produce a negative RT-PCR report along with the hall ticket on June 10.