PG medical students to continue as resident doctors till new admissions

Originally scheduled to take place on April 19, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) postponed the entrance examination to PG medical courses earlier this month after a fresh surge in Covid cases in several states.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) issued a circular, asking medical students in post graduate colleges across the country to continue doubling up as resident doctors to help healthcare apparatus deal with the massive rise in Covid-19 cases seen during the ongoing second wave of the pandemic.

The start of the 2021-2022 academic session will be delayed and the new batch of first year PG students will join only after NEET-PG examination is held, said NMC.

Final year PG medical examinations have been stalled in most states due to the deterioration of Covid situation. Similarly, no fresh admissions to PG medical and diploma courses were done due to the postponement of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-PG) exams. Students of most PG colleges were roped in last year to augment trained manpower for treatment of Covid and non-Covid patients. The fresh NMC directive seeks to ensure that the current batch continues to serve as resident doctors to help deal with the present crisis until fresh admissions are made to PG courses and final year examinations are held.

NEET-PG exams are generally conducted in the month of February every year and the final year examinations are generally held between April-May in Maharashtra colleges.

“The start of the 2021-2022 academic session will be delayed and the new batch of first year PG students will join only after NEET-PG examination is held, followed by counselling to allocate colleges,” the NMC circular released on April 27 said. It further states that the students continued deployment as residents will help ensure there is no shortage of hands to deal with the surge of Covid-19 cases.

Originally scheduled to take place on April 19, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) postponed the entrance examination to PG medical courses earlier this month after a fresh Covid surge in several states. Similarly, all under graduate (UG) and PG medical examinations were postponed in several states, including in Maharashtra.

With no new students joining medical institutes anytime soon, the NMC has also advised colleges to continue providing accommodation and stipend to the PG students during this extended period.