CHENNAI: If ‘grace mark’ doctors perform surgeries, patients will have to get well only with the grace of god. So saying, the Madras high court has refused to direct
Pondicherry University to grant grace
marks to a medical student.
Justice S
Vaidyanathan, ridiculing grace marks being awarded in medical courses, observed that citizens would be taken for a ride if such practices were allowed to be continued. If a person who is studying
ophthalmology is allowed to clear his papers with grace marks, the patients will have to regain eyesight only with the grace of god, he said.
Justice Vaidyanathan made the observation while dismissing a plea moved by S Bharathi, a third year MBBS student of
Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry seeking direction to the Pondicherry University to grant grace marks to him.
The petitioner said she had cleared all papers in first and second years of the course. The third year consisted of three subjects - community medicine, ENT, and ophthalmology. She appeared for exams in June 2016 and cleared two papers except ophthalmology.
She appeared for the ophthalmology subject in November 2017 and failed again.
Though she secured minimum required score in the subject, she was declared fail for the reason that she did not fulfil the additional minimum requirement of 40% in the university theory exam.
She added that she has secured 29 marks in theory paper instead of required 32 and hence lacked just 3 marks to be declared pass. Pointing out that upto 5 grace marks can be granted to students as per university rules, she made a representation to the university to grant her three marks. Since the authorities failed to respond, she approached the high court.
Representative image