Resident doctors’ association urges MUHS to postpone final year PG exams

In a letter addressed to the examination authority, the central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has listed several reasons for their request

Mumbai: Association of resident doctors in the state have approached the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) to postpone the final year postgraduate medical examination, which is scheduled to commence on May 19.

Most are waiting to submit their final dissertation but need signatures of their respective PG guides before submitting the same to the MUHS. (HT PHOTO)

In a letter addressed to the examination authority, the central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) has listed several reasons for their request, including the plight of nearly 60-70 percent final year PG medical students who are yet to submit their final dissertation due to the ongoing strike of medical practitioners and teachers in state government hospitals.

“PG medical students have to complete a compulsory three-year tenure and this particular batch is telling short of the same because, in 2019, admissions were delayed due to the introduction of Maratha quota. If exams are held in May, this batch with fall short of the three-year tenure by a few weeks. Therefore we request MUHS to postpone exams by 4-5 weeks,” said the statement released by MARD.

It further states how the first-year PG medical batch for 2021-22 will only join by the second week of March, and the senior resident doctors will need to be present to train the first year batch, which will take at least a month.

HT has previously reported how the ongoing unrest and suspension of teaching activities by doctors and teachers in government medical colleges have left PG medical students in a spot. Most are waiting to submit their final dissertation but need signatures of their respective PG guides before submitting the same to the MUHS.

The Maharashtra State Medical Teachers Association (MSMTA) has made demands that their salaries are still not up to the seventh pay commission mark and have also demanded that sanctioned doctor posts by the government need to be regularised, especially for staff working on a contractual basis for several years now.

“We understand and support our teachers who are fighting for their rights, especially since they are the backbone of this system. The government needs to consider their demands and give assurances, without which students will face more delay in completing their academic work in time for the examination,” said a final year PG resident doctor on condition of anonymity.