In UP, no remedy for some medicos' malaise

Medical Council of India approached over reward of degrees as the MD students may not pass muster

The Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University has sought the opinion of the Medical Council of India (MCI) on its suggestion to award degrees to those medical students, who have been failing at the MBBS and BDS examinations for over a decade, without clearing the examinations.

The university feels that these students, who belong to the reserved categories, would not be able to clear the examination even if they appeared in them in future and wants to ‘get rid of them’.

In a communication to the MCI, the varsity has asked whether these students should be awarded degrees even though they have failed to pass the examination.

“There are around 50 such students, who have been appearing in the examinations for the past 10-15 years without success,” a university teacher said.

He said that a majority of the reserved category students have not been able to clear the examination in the past two years. “The numbers of failed students is increasing every year,” he added.

The university did everything except letting them know the questions in advance, to make sure that these students passed but did not succeed. “Many of these students’ classmates have become professors and readers while they remain students,” he pointed out. The failed students said “it is really humiliating for us” and blamed the varsity for their plight.

Only recently many failed reserved category students had approached the National Commission for Schedule Caste chairman P L Punia with complaints that they were being discriminated against by the varsity authorities. An inquiry found the allegations to be false.

The response of the medical council is awaited with interest now. If it accepts the university’s suggestion, it will be a precedent, an university faculty said.