The resident doctors across the country and from hospitals across the capital – Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College, RML Hospital, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, ESI Hospital, Maulana Azad Medical College and All India Institute of Medical Sciences – have again started and joined the protest against the NEET-PG 2021 counselling delay case. The agitation was put on hold on December 9, 2021, on assurances from the government.

In a letter to the union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) pointed out that with the new Omicron infections increasing; there could be a threat of the third Covid-19 wave and the government should have speeded up the counselling and the subsequent admission process. The protest would be called off only once the NEET-PG schedule was released. The association has complained that court dates for hearing the case could be much earlier than the scheduled January dates, as students of the 2021 batch would suffer and they will have to give their exams in 2024. 

Dr Roshan Krishnan, president of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) earlier had said that the strength of the resident doctors working across the country was only 66% and government hospitals were burdened with work overload.

Dr Manish, president of the Federation of Resident Doctors Association of India (FORDA), alleged and said the hardships of the overburdened resident doctors seem to be unheard by the authorities have and the doctors have informed the government that they would be withdrawing from all services including emergency and surgeries. 

In anticipation, the health ministry, on Thursday, released a circular stating that all resident doctors who were appointed on an ad-hoc and contractual basis could not participate in the strike and would face strict disciplinary action including termination.

Last week the Supreme Court was informed by the Union government and the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that after revisiting the criteria of Rs 8 lakh annual income limit for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), the government  will take fresh decisions within 4 weeks and till then counselling for NEET could not be scheduled.

Source: National Herald