The Delhi government’s decision to deploy final-year medical students to COVID-19 hospitals here for six months to increase manpower is not easy to implement as there is no clarity on whether this will be done before or after their exams, said sources.
The final-year MD, MS, and Diplomate of National Board students are currently working as resident doctors in different hospitals and their exams, which are usually held in April-May, have been postponed due to the outbreak.
An official source told The Hindu that there are a lot of limitations and they are analysing the situation. The students are already working and cannot possibly be called back, the source said, adding that if implementing the decision proves too difficult then an alternative solution will have to be found.
When contacted, a Delhi government spokesperson did not comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Resident Doctor’s Association (FORDA) on Saturday wrote to the chairman of the Medical Council of India (MCI) to consider “internal assessment” to pass these students and deploy them as senior resident doctors.
The FORDA added that in this case, six months will be counted as their work experience too. “The students are already stressed that their exams are postponed and after Friday’s order there is a lot of confusion. Neither the students nor the association were consulted by the government before passing the order to deploy them,” said FORDA president Shivaji Dev Barman. “It would be mental harassment if they are asked to work for six months before their course is over. The government should consider our demands,” he added.
“Immediate deployment of all final-year MD/MS/DNB graduate doctors in various PG medical Institutions of Delhi to be engaged for a period of six months in Delhi government COVID hospitals. Similarly, final-year PG (Nursing) and UG (Nursing) students also be deployed for ICU duty for a period of six months,” read the government order issued on Friday.
The head of department of a Delhi government-run medical college said that the government is yet to formally communicate the decision to them, adding that the students should ideally be deployed only after they have sat for their exams.