The All India Medical Students’ Association (AIMSA), on Thursday, April 18, wrote to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the National Medical Commission (NMC) seeking an additional mercy attempt for 2021 batch MBBS students to qualify their first professional exam.
Earlier, in a notification published in May 2023, the NMC granted an extra chance to qualify for their first professional exam for MBBS batches of 2019 and 2020, citing that these are COVID-affected batches.
Now, the medical association has sought the same for the 2021 batch of MBBS students.
“In the context of the 2021 batch first year MBBS students around one thousand from all over in India have got into a career stalemate situation. We, students and parents, submitted this application and submitted their prayers to you. We would like to thank you for your kind heart for assessing our situation and granting one more extra attempt to clear the MBBS first exam,” the letter submitted to authorities on Thursday, said.
The association further added that this constraint on the number of attempts for clearing exams could have detrimental effects on academics and mental wellness of the students.
Speaking to EdexLive, Dr Jitendra Singh, National President, AIMSA, said, “NMC had earlier granted mercy attempts for 2019 and 2020 batches based on the fact that these are COVID-affected batches. But even the students of the 2021 batch were affected by the pandemic. We took our concerns to the authorities and they have taken the same positively and assured us that they will consider our request.”
The constraint on the number of attempts to qualify for the first MBBS professional exam was introduced by the NMC in 2019, under the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education (Amendment), reducing it to four consecutive attempts effective from the 2019 batch: The first regular main exam, supplementary, the next main exam and its supplementary.
Even a petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging NMC’s four-attempt rule which was dismissed.
Students express that the constraint on the number of attempts can increase the difficulty level of the MBBS course which is already among the most demanding and rigorous academic courses.
Shailendra Udai, an MBBS 2021 batch student said, “This regulation was introduced in 2019 and since then, already two batches have received an additional fifth attempt to qualify for the first professional exam. This indicates that there is some problem with the NMC’s four attempt rule and needs to be reconsidered.”
