“A long weeks protest by residents or junior doctors is ended now. The supreme course has given its verdict on 6 January 2021 by keeping the OBC and EWS reservation quota the Same. NEET PG counselling 2021 and NEET UG counselling 2021 commenced from 12th January 2022.”
We all have witnessed the large scale protests held by the resident doctors of various hospitals across different regions of India. The frontline warriors of our nation were on road with the banners of the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA). All these protests were happening due to delays in NEET PG counselling 2021, which has been postponed due to the central government decision of reconsidering the reservation quota of the EWS category.
The entire matter was in the supreme court and finally, the apex body took the decision on 6 January 2022. This scenario had also led to delaying the NEET UG counselling process.
Let’s understand the matter in depth.
The entire issue was about the delay in NEET PG counselling 2021. If we look back to the past of medical exam history, there was an entrance exam called AIPMT (All India pre-medical) for admission in various medical courses but since 2013, the Indian government had introduced a NEET Exam (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) intending to replace all the medical exams take place for admission in various courses
Although this decision was challenged in the court many times, till 2017 this exam had replaced all the medical entrance exams except AIIMs and JIPMER but by the end of 2019, this exam had replaced all the exceptions also. The union health minister of that time declared that from 2020 onward, there will be a single entrance exam called NEET to get admission in any medical college of India.
Now, similar to engineering where a single exam JEE takes place to get admission in any engineering college in India likewise NEET Exam will be conducted to fill the MBBS seats in all medical colleges of India.
Category of NEET Exam
NEET Exam is divided into 2 categories;
NEET UG – A candidate who has passed the 12th class and wants to study a medical course, will have to appear in the NEET UG Exam to take admission in any undergraduate medical programme. This exam was previously conducted by CBSE but later on, this responsibility was handed over to NTA (National Test Agency), it is a government body that conducts entrance examinations for admission in engineering and medical colleges.
NEET PG – A candidate who has done his graduation in the medical field and wants to study further by taking admission in Post graduation courses like MD (Doctor of Medicine) MS (Master of Surgery) and other diploma courses, will have to appear in NEET PG Exam. This exam is conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences which is an autonomous body that comes under the Ministry of Health and Family welfare.
Let’s come on the topic again
This is all about the exam-related discussion but the protest was done by all Resident Doctors.
Now a question will be striking into your mind, WHO ARE THESE RESIDENT DOCTORS?
“The resident doctor is a candidate who has done MBBS and is pursuing a PG course/MD course. They stay in the hospital campus and participate in the treatment of patients and diagnose them under the supervision of senior doctors.”
The MD/PG course is a 3 years program and around 50 thousand candidates enrol themselves in the course. They generally stay on the hospital’s campus that is why they are known as Resident Doctors.
In our country, there is a lot of burden on the shoulders of resident doctors. It can be understood with the following stats
As per the data provided by the health ministry in June 2018, There is only 1 state-run hospital for 55000 people and only 1 allopathic doctor for 11000 patients. This gap is being fulfilled by these residence doctors.
Source: The Print
Every year, around 45000 doctors enrolled themselves for PG course and in the same number of doctors complete their post-graduation
In general, these doctors treat patients in the hospital and stay there till the completion of their post-graduation. They have to treat patients while managing their studies and exams.
Due to the covid pandemic, the NEET PG Exam had been delayed by a year and the first year batch hadn’t started yet. That clearly indicates that there were only two batches of doctors for the patients. This situation has put them in the situation where they have to work for 84-100 hours a week. This crisis led to the result that a lot of resident doctors fall ill by stress, anxiety and depression.
In a covid pandemic, we have heard of frontline warriors who were putting their heart and soul to serve the patients and working day & night continuously. Those frontline warriors were nobody but these Resident Doctors.
This burden has been carried forward for many years. In 1992, The supreme court had ordered and stated that there will be fixed 12 working hours for these junior doctors with a week off on a rotational basis. But despite this order, nothing had happened and nothing was implemented properly.
Read more about the supreme court decision: https://www.pgtimes.in/2013/09/pg-doctors-of-india-must-work-not-more.html
Due to this bad implementation and ignorance, these resident doctors are still working with overburdened responsibilities. Sometimes, they have to work for 18 to 20 hours a day. Reacting to this stressful and hectic schedule, they launched a campaign called #IamOverworked and raised their voice to reach the government.
Let’s see the truth!
Last year when we were praising the frontline workers by showering rose petals from a helicopter, praising them by beating kitchen utensils (Plates & spoons). Among those frontline workers, the majority of them were these resident doctors who worked day and night to serve the patients. Because senior doctors do not work on the frontline, they generally treat severe patients.
So let’s understand the current issue, why resident doctors were protesting? And Why was NEET PG counselling delayed? Why has it affected NEET UG counselling?
Generally, the NEET PG Exam is being conducted in January but due to covid it was initially delayed till April/May but the covid situation was the same at that time hence this NEET PG exam was conducted finally in September month.
Surprisingly, despite the release of the result, its admission process hadn’t started yet because of the petition filed against the EWS quota introduced by the government. This scenario created a situation when the last year’s admissions were on hold whereas the exam date of next year’s session was around the corner.
What is the relation between NEET PG and EWS quota?
In the NEET PG exam, the seats are divided into two categories, “50% for All India Quota” and “50% for State Quota”. Now the all India Quota seats had reservations for different categories (SC, ST & PWD) but in July 2021, the government of India introduced two new categories for reservation (27% OBC & 10% for EWS). These new reservation quotas are for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Two groups of doctors have filed a petition against this reservation quota and during the hearing process the fact came out that says, the annual Income upper limit for the eligibility of EWS candidates is 8 lakh. The question was how can a family with an income of 66 thousand per month come in the economically weaker section.
Now, the entire matter was taken to the supreme court and in the hearing of November 2021, the apex court had said that they require 4 more weeks to take the decision. This delay has now turned into an entire year gap for the resident doctors.
Due to this delay by the court and Indian government, the NEET PG counselling process is delayed by almost a year and neither the current batch of resident doctors has got free from the responsibilities nor the new batch has joined the hospital. This means the career of around 45 thousand resident doctors was on hold.
The demand of resident doctors who are protesting is only to make the decision in this entire matter by FastTrack hearing.
As the decision regarding the EWS quota was also for NEET-UG candidates, hence the entire matter also delayed the counselling process of the NEET UG exam.
The supreme court verdict on NEET PG Counselling 2021
The verdict on EWS and OBC quota has been given by the Supreme Court on 6th January 2022. The Apex Court has allowed counselling sessions to begin for both UG and PG courses. The apex court has upheld the 27 percent OBC quota and 10 percent EWS Quota for this academic session. Although the apex court has also stated that a detailed hearing will be held in March 2022.
Final Takeaway
Amidst the situation when the cases of new corona variant “Omicron” are increasing, the assumptions of the third wave of Covid have become strong and this situation requires a strong health care system which is not possible without these frontline workers or Resident doctors. The delay in the decision has already impacted the careers of the current candidates’ career who were planning to take admission in UG and PG courses.
Due to this delay, a lot of MBBS abroad aspirants were eagerly waiting for the supreme court’s verdict so that they can take a step forward toward their dream career.
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