National Medical Commission (NMC) released a public notice, issuing an advisory for all medical colleges across the country. The notice was published on the official website nmc.org.in. Accordingly, all universities or institutions have been advised to conduct the final-year exams for all Postgraduate, Broad Specialty and Super Specialty students as early as possible. Obviously, these final-year exams shall be taken after considering the local COVID-19 conditions. This advisory came in view of the disruptions caused by the pandemic and the hardships faced by medical students in India.
NMC issued the advisory to all the medical institutions present in the country, in light of the declining number of coronavirus cases. Earlier, the country was severely impacted by the second wave of COVID-19. Since then, the situation has stabilised and various institutions are thinking about holding exams in July or August 2021, when the situation becomes conducive. The same has been communicated by the issued advisory.
The coronavirus pandemic created multiple disruptions in the academics of medical students. NEET PG 2021 was also postponed owing to the second wave, causing a major delay in the arrival of a new batch of postgraduate students. Taking this into consideration, NMC was compelled to issue consistent advisories for the sake of clearing this chaos and providing some semblance to students. To the delight of NMC, the pandemic has also seemed to stabilise, enabling them to issue a fresh set of advisories.
The first advisory is that all universities and institutions are advised to conduct the final-year exams for postgraduate students, both Broad Specialty and Super Specialty. This must be done at the earliest possible juncture, taking the local COVID-19 situation under consideration. Secondly, all previously implemented advisories shall be applicable for the upcoming final-year exams as well. These advisories were related to certain relaxations imposed on pre-existing examination norms. The third and final advisory is that Universities, can themselves evaluate the theory answer scripts, as per their discretion.
Earlier, on April 15, 2021, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) announced the postponement of the National Eligibility Entrance Examination (NEET) PG 2021. The postponement was done indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Subsequently, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had announced that the postgraduate medical entrance test shall be put on hold for the next four months i.e., till August 2021. While the decision was ideal under those circumstances, it did have certain repercussions. Along with final-year exams, even NEET PG 2021 is likely to be conducted in the next 2-3 months to compensate for the delay faced by medical students.
