After the Indian Medical Association (IMA) wrote a letter to the Medical Education Secretary regarding 248 MBBS students being barred from finals exams at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College, Jaipur, Principal Dr Rajeev Bagarhatta told EdexLive that there is no update on the matter yet.
Speaking to EdexLive, the principal said, “There is no official update about any extra classes for the students. This is an academic matter and the Department will look into it as per NMC (National Medical Commission) norms.”
In the letter, the IMA raised concerns over a large number of students being labelled ineligible to appear for their MBBS final exams and demanded extra classes to be conducted so that these students can cover up their attendance requirement.
Here’s what happened
To recall, only two out of 250 MBBS students in the community medicine department at SMS Medical College have qualified for the final exam. The department clarified that it was mainly done due to a shortage of attendance, as per the norms laid down by the NMC.
The department also held extra classes in the month of November and from December 5 to December 11, to give an opportunity to the students to make up for their attendance deficit, however, the classes were called off by the Head of Department as the students were not attending them, as informed by a faculty member of the department, on condition of anonymity.
Experts and faculty members have commented that this situation has come up as the students are more focused on preparing for the upcoming NEET-PG (National Eligibility Entrance Test-Postgraduate) examination.
Jayaprakash Gandhi, an education expert and career analyst, explained, “This might happen in other states also as most students give much more importance to the highly competitive postgraduation entrance exam after MBBS. In fact, the students know very well that they cannot survive in the health industry with only an MBBS degree. For post graduation also, there is a huge competition and the students realise that they have to face a huge competition to get a government medical seat. So definitely, the medical council should make sure that sufficient time is given to the students between the final year exams and NEET-PG.”
