Tirupati: PG admissions delay worries docs

Tirupati: The inordinate delay in NEET UG and PG admission process in the country has been irking not only the aspirants and their parents but the resident doctors as well. NEET PG admissions would have been completed around April/May this year but the entrance examination was held only in September. Even after three months of the examination, the admission process could not be started due to the court cases regarding Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota.

The UG admissions were also delayed for the same reasons and the wait for the aspirants has to continue for some more time. The whole academic schedule and patient services will be seriously hampered with this delay.

The medical PG admissions were last held in July/August 2020 which were delayed by around three months then due to Covid related reasons. While the NEET PG entrance test was to be conducted normally in January, it was first postponed to April and then to September. By this time, the counselling process has to be completed and the first year doctors would have joined their courses.

It was delayed with court cases regarding the revised income criteria for the EWS quota which was now before the Supreme Court and the next hearing was scheduled for January 6.

The doctors were expecting at least another three months to complete the counselling process after the court gives its verdict which is causing a lot of uncertainty for the young doctors.

Those who joined in July/August 2020 have completed almost 17 months in first year while the duration was only 12 months and were in a state of dilemma over whether they are 1st year or 2nd year students now.

In fact, there was a feeling among the young doctors that the Central government was responsible for this confusion and delay as it stirred the EWS quota's nest. They argue that the EWS criteria was not included in the original notification but included later when the examination was postponed.

Though NEET PG 2022 examination was slated for March 2022, they feel that it is not at all possible as the 2021 admissions will no way be completed by then. This will seriously hamper the career prospects of the young doctors with the much delay in completing the courses. It will have severe financial implications on many families.

The President of AP JUDA Dr J Jeshwanth told The Hans India that with the delay in admissions, the hospitals were working with two-thirds of the staff required causing heavy workload. A shortage of one complete batch of doctors will have a serious impact on the society as well as the services will be affected adversely. There were many occasions on which they worked tirelessly for 32 hours and 76 hours too.

The JUDAs and those waiting for MBBS admissions have been requesting the government to find the ways to resolve the dispute immediately and resume the counselling process. They want the whole academic schedule to be streamlined without further delay.