Doctors welcome the Supreme Court's decision allowing the Centre to carry on with the NEET PG 2021 counselling which has been delayed by several months. However, they say that the path forward is full of challenges as a result of the delay.
Speaking to Edexlive, President of the Indian Medical Association Dr JA Jayalal said, "Our only concern was to get the PG counselling started at the earliest. But it has taken four months to make the same decision with so much suffering. This could have been avoided. But we welcome the Supreme Court's clearance to initiate the PG counselling and the government now needs to expedite it."
He added that it is now the Centre's responsibility to ensure that adequate manpower is restored in hospitals. Elaborating on the concern, he said, "COVID cases are rising exponentially and now we are seeing so many doctors getting infected because patients are approaching general OPD with mild symptoms and are not directly going to COVD care." He added, "In Delhi alone, more than 1,000 doctors have been infected and already there is a shortage seen. The NEET PG admissions will take a minimum of two to three weeks."
Expressing concerns over new admissions, he said, "They will be very fresh candidates who have been studying for the last one and a half years. They are also at the risk of contracting the virus as they are not going to see one patient but hundreds of patients." Jayalal believes that more doctors are going to be infected in this wave than the earlier ones and added that it is going to be a disastrous situation if the government does not plan well for the entry of new resident doctors.
Soon after the Court's decision, Federation of Resident Doctors' — which was at the forefront of intense protest in Delhi seeking immediate NEET counselling — tweeted, "FORDA welcomes the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India pronounced today in the matter concerning NEET PG counselling 2021." President of FORDA Dr Manish was unavailable for comment.
