The Supreme Court will today take up the petition filed by the resident doctors pursuing post graduate courses in various disciplines of medical science, challenging the two notifications issued by the National Medical Commission over the same.
The bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M.R. Shah will take up the plea, which said that on one hand, the NMC advised the Universities to decide the time and method of postgraduate practical final examination, whereas in its another notification, the Commission advised the medical colleges to continue taking the services of post graduate Final Year medical students for Covid-19 Duty.
The petitioners have submitted that the notifications passed by the NMC dated April 27, 2021 and April 22, 2021 were not only harsh but manifestly arbitrary as the students have been extremely occupied due to the COVID-19 duty and have hardly had any time for the preparation for their final examination.
They are expected to undertake the final examination without being given enough time for preparation.
The petitioners further brought into notice that they have to obtain minimum 50 percent marks to get passed and ideally, a final year PG student used to get a study leave of about 45 days for their final examination but in the time of the pandemic, they have devoted their time to serve the COVID-19 patients. Consequently, they have not been given even one day for preparation.
This is not a hidden fact that the final examination of the PG resident doctors is an extremely important cornerstone for them as it decides their specialty, which is very significant for any doctor. The respondents also inclined to extend the academic period of the petitioner beyond the prescribed schedule of 3 years due ongoing pandemic for their services but they are not given any credit for the same.
Petitioners have supported their contentions with the provision enshrined in Section 61 (2) of National Medical Commission Act that mandates final examination for conferring a degree, but in the same vein it also mandates time limit of the 3 years for the same. Further there is no provision for extension of residency.
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The petitioners have already submitted their thesis and in regard to the theory papers petitioners have prayed for the exemption on the basis of their continuous service to covid-19 patients their practical experience and clinical inputs.
Through this petition, petitioners have prayed to issue directions for constitution of a joint expert committee for examining and recommending on the prayers of this petition and its recommendations, shall be binding on all the respondents.
Source: ILNS