The medical community has raised concerns regarding the hefty penalty levied on students wanting to give up a postgraduate (PG) medical seat after obtaining admission into the three-year PG course in Indian medical colleges.
Currently, every state has a fixed penalty amount for any student who leaves a seat vacant after obtaining admission as per the amount of annual medical fees.
Medical students expressed that this puts unnecessary restrictions on the ones who might want to switch their branch or take another route in their career.
Dr Rajat, a second-year postgraduate medical student, told EdexLive, “We are not allowed to give up PG medical seats if you want to switch branches or professions. Because if you decide to do so, you are supposed to pay the fees of three years which can even come up to Rs 20 lakh for one seat. Now these students who have claimed their medical seats cannot even appear for NEET-PG (National Eligibility Entrance Test Postgraduate) again as they would not be eligible. Most of the students are from middle-class backgrounds. How are we supposed to give such a hefty amount?”
The medical students further added that they face several issues like delayed and irregular stipends, poor infrastructure, and long working hours which lead to stress-related issues.
“Many PG doctors do not receive stipends on time, the hostel and food fees can be quite high. The doctors are suffering and they are not even able to quit because every state has these bonds. Why is this penalty only for medical students? Any student should be able to give up seats freely,” added Dr Rajat.
Recently, Dr Rohan Krishnan, Chairman of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), also spoke about the issue.
Taking it to the social media platform X (previously Twitter), he tweeted on December 14, “I think that there should be no penalties if someone wants to leave his/her pg seats. Recently when I was working in England, I was told that the dropout rate there at UG / MBBS level is about 50% and there is no shame in that. Similarly if someone does not want to pursue the course. Instead of heavy penalties and bond services we should give them the right to choose their career and life.”
Talking to EdexLive, Dr Rohan Krishnan explained that the penalty can be as high as Rs 50 lakhs in some of the states like Maharashtra.
"The students are also usually barred from taking the NEET-PG exam again as they collect the certificates and don't release it unless the penalty amount has been paid. I think that this is very bad in career prospects. I don't see any such bonds or limitations in any other course or any other country. I think these norms are outdated and retrograde," he said.
"Doctors are expected to be for the people and always think about the people. I think this mindset should be changed. If someone wants to switch course, or speciality, they should be allowed to do so," further said Dr Rohan Krishnan.
