Mumbai: Medical students welcome exam gaps

Exams are usually spread over 90 days

Another crisis involving medical students was averted when the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) agreed to provide a one-day gap between each paper in the upcoming MBBS and MD exams scheduled for December. Earlier this month, the university had decided to hold back-to-back exams after receiving guidelines from the National Medical Council (NMC) to conclude the exams within a month.

These exams usually spilled over a month-and-a-half. "There are over 20,000 doctors appearing for MD exams and about 60,000 MBBS students in the state, but there aren't as many faculty members to conduct these exams at a faster speed," said Dr Nikhil Honale, a resident doctor at Nair Hospital, who is set to appear for the upcoming PG exam.

He added, "It would have been disastrous for us if these exams were held without a day's gap." There are seven papers in total for both MD and MBBS students, along with a series of practical exams. Abhijit Karwedkar, a third-year MBBS student at Nair Hospital, said, "The NMC wanted to wrap up the exams in December to cover up for the delays that occurred in admissions during COVID-19. It was an attempt to streamline admissions, but it would have cost young doctors their future."

The decision for consecutive exams was rolled back after an online meeting held by MUHS vice-chancellor Lt Gen Dr Madhuri Kanitkar (retd) with more than 700 students across the state. "The rationale was also that if students fail, within a month there can be a supplementary exam. Then we could have quickly declared the results so such students can join back their main batch and not lose six months." She added, "There is a significant deficiency of teachers in government colleges. and we have conveyed this to the state department."

Last year, the medical education department's principal secretary, Dinesh Waghmare, told the Bombay High Court that out of 2,015 Class-1 posts across 71 state-run medical colleges, about 744 are vacant. This includes the posts of directors, deans, and professors. Furthermore, 1,725 out of the 2,901 sanctioned posts for assistant and associate professors are vacant.