The agitation by resident doctors’ associations across the country is expected to pick up steam this week, with the threat of being removed from all services in government and civic hospitals looming if their demand for immediate admissions to first-year postgraduate medical courses is not met.

The Supreme Court has ordered a moratorium on new PG admissions until January 6, putting a stop to the agitating doctors’ plans to withdraw from all services unless a quick solution is found.

“Despite the country being in one of the worst phases of the pandemic at the same time, multiple delays and postponements of admissions have resulted in no new intake of PG residents in 2021.” Our agitation began on December 9 with a nationwide withdrawal of outpatient department (OPD) services, but because no concrete measures have been taken by appropriate authorities, we will be forced to withdraw all services in medical institutes once more,” read a letter from the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) India to the union health ministry.

While several other resident doctor associations across the country began their strikes on December 1, the Central Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) began withdrawing from OPD work on December 6 and ended it the same day after meeting with state minister Aditya Thackeray.

The agitated doctors have been complaining about the added stress of only having two batches of resident doctors instead of three during testing times. “The least that can be done at a time when the country is witnessing the rise of a new Covid variant is to strengthen the healthcare system, and we need all hands on deck,” one of the protesting doctors said.

The NEET-PG 2021 exam, which was supposed to be held in January, was first postponed to February, and then to April this year. Due to an increase in Covid-19 cases across the country, it was then postponed indefinitely.

The entrance exam was finally held in September of this year, but admissions following the exam were halted by the Supreme Court, which is currently hearing a series of petitions filed by students challenging the validity of the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) and OBC (Other Backward Castes) quotas in AIQ seats.

Thackeray assured residents and doctors in Maharashtra hospitals that the state would soon begin the pre-admission registration process for postgraduate admissions. He also stated that he would approach the central government to request that the admissions freeze be lifted. The union health ministry also approached the Supreme Court last week, requesting that the case be heard as soon as possible.

“Any unfortunate incident resulting from the withdrawal from services will be the responsibility of the responsible authorities.” “We sincerely hope that such a situation never arises,” a FORDA representative said.

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