Decision to hold medical exams taken after talks: Amit Deshmukh

Maharashtra minister Amit Deshmukh on Friday said that the decision to conduct under-graduate and post-graduate examinations of the MUHS was taken only after detailed discussions and consultations on the issue.

Addressing a press conference here, the state Medical Education Minister said that he met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari after the Nashik-based Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) submitted a detailed report about holding the exams from July 15 in the state.

Koshyari on Thursday granted permission to conduct all under-graduate and post-graduate examinations as proposed by the university.

Deshmukh was in Pune to review the COVID-19 situation in the city.

When it was pointed out to him that the state's Technical and Higher Education Ministry has decided not to conduct exams, whereas his ministry will hold them, he said there were no discrepancies in the functioning of the government.

"Both the ministries- technical/higher education and medical education- are different. Their curriculum is different, their central councils, universities are different. I think they are following their own guidelines, while we are adhering to ours," he said.

The Congress leader said that it will be ensured that students do not have to travel far to appear for the exams and arrangements will be done in their home districts.

"A detailed programme will be issued shortly," he added.

He said the decision to conduct these exams was taken after detailed discussions with the apex medical bodies.

Talking about the COVID-19 situation in the state, he claimed that there was a decline in the number of positive cases in Mumbai, Pune and other cities.

In Pune, the situation is under control and as compared to other big cities in the world, the situation in Mumbai is better, he said.

"I was told that medical facilities need to be ramped up further. I have assured all the support and necessary permissions from my ministry," he added.

Deshmukh said that as far as COVID-19 tests are concerned, currently 80 labs are operating in the state, where tests are being conducted and more labs are being added.

When asked about the roadmap for improving the healthcare system and medical education in the state, he said, "We have learnt a lot (during the pandemic) and we are still learning. What we will do is to standardise the hospitals as far as protocols, SOPs (standard operating procedures) are concerned.

"I am of the opinion that some rating should be given to each hospital as patients should not suffer due to some inefficient infrastructure (of a hospital)," he added.

The minister said that hospitals like J J, Sassoon, Nair are very renowned facilities and there is a lotto be learnt from them.