After the counselling for NEET-PG 2022 was postponed by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), associations of resident doctors have written to the Health minister and the Director General of Health Services saying that they would be forced to protest.
In a notice dated September 29, the MCC said it was postponing the counselling to allow the National Medical Commission to issue Letter of Permission for new post-graduate seats.
Last December, resident doctors from medical college hospitals across India had gone on strike, urging the government to expedite NEET-PG 2021 counselling, which only started in February this year. MBBS students had demanded that the PG examination for 2022 be delayed by 8-10 weeks as it had been scheduled for soon after the previous year’s counselling.
The Health ministry, however, did not agree to delay the exams, saying that authorities were trying to regularise the batches that were delayed because of the pandemic. The exams were conducted as scheduled on May 21 and the results were announced within 10 days, but the process of counselling went into an “indefinite halt for a long duration”, with the NMC releasing a tentative schedule in the first half of August.
The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA), which had led the protests last December, criticised the delay in the counselling for 2022 and said it would be “unfavourable” for the health system.
Uncertainty over EWS quota
Last year, the counselling was delayed first due to the pandemic and then because of a series of lawsuits related the newly introduced 10 per cent reservation for people from economically weaker sections (EWS). The EWS quota issue is still in the Supreme Court, leading to some speculation that counselling was being delayed until a verdict comes.
“We fail to understand the reasons of such procedural delays… The academic session is already delayed by almost 4-5 months, delaying it further is highly unfavourable not only for medical graduates but also for the health system of the nation,” wrote FORDA in the letter to the Health minister.
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The association said, “In case there happens to be any further delay in the counselling process, then we will be forced to protest.”
The Federation of All India Medical Association, which was also a part of last year’s protest, said in a letter to the Director General of Health Services, “We urge the concerned officials to expedite the process of NEET-PG counselling 2022 without further delay and to release the official counselling schedule as soon as possible. The year 2021 saw a nationwide massive strike by resident doctors to expedite the process… And now, history is about to repeat itself… The concerned authorities are inciting students to repeat such actions by again delaying the counselling process.”
PG students work in medical college hospitals as junior residents. With one batch missing, the hospitals are operating at two-thirds’ strength.
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