Final year medical students in Maharashtra will have to take their examinations, according to the state’s Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. This news comes weeks after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray canceled examinations for all final year students.
This decision was met with significant ire from medical students, who started the hashtag #cancelmedicalexams. Around 900 medical students wrote a letter to the Medical Council of India in protest of the contradiction, after the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) released a circular confirming final year exams. The state’s Governor’s decision supersedes the CM’s, as he is the final authority on state universities.
A major concern with respect to conducting examinations amid a pandemic is students potentially contracting Covid19. There are safety concerns regarding the spread of the virus in crowded testing centers. State Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh stated that adequate arrangements will be made to ensure students wouldn’t have to travel far to take exams, but hasn’t said anything about the number of people in each testing center yet.
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According to a self-declaration form from the MUHS that final year medical students must fill out, the college or university or any other authority cannot be held responsible if the student contracts Covid19.
#universities :- daro mat… Even we care for your lives😇
Also them.. #cancelmedicalexams #MUHSCancelExams pic.twitter.com/CmmyvHt27R
Young doctors, including final year medical students who intern at hospitals, have constantly been at the frontlines, helping fight Covid19. Pushing young medical students to take final year exams, and putting them and their families at risk of contracting Covid19 is yet another incident that may add to the building resentment that the medical fraternity feels over their mistreatment in India.
