Medical graduates in limbo

Young medical graduates of the 2021 batch must bear the brunt of the indecisiveness which has put their future at stake. Students were wide-eyed when they got selected, registered at respective medical colleges, and deemed themselves lucky in this academic path. All graduates in general, and those who made it with flying colours specifically, with an unflinching focus on their next destination --a gruelling path in pursuance of a post-graduate degree--were hopeful of realizing their dreams. Only to crash-land in disillusionment!

A logical next step post a graduation ceremony was to obtain a registration number from the board or council. They are provided a license which helps them to practice or take up employment or furnish as details if they need to pursue their higher education. A prerequisite is to collect all previous education marks cards from the college which were deposited at the time of admission. When they proceeded onwards, graduates were in for a shock.

Graduates were informed that they need to serve a mandatory rural service of one year and their marks cards would not be released. What entitles the college authorities or the Board or the Government to confiscate forcefully their transcripts? While graduates from a few other colleges had obtained their marks cards, they were denied the registration numbers. Some others obtained the registration numbers during the initial period of 2-3 days and proved to be a happy lot. In summary, the decision that lacked cohesion with no proper set guidelines made the graduates sulk in frustration.

At this point, some graduates proceeded to file a court petition to absolve them of the rural duty by citing certain clauses. During the interim, they were left to fend for themselves since the government would not decide one way or the other. If there were clear guidelines, they would have served now for almost three months in rural areas and left with a balance of only nine more months.

Our expectations are that governments will facilitate by setting up a paradigm with forward-looking thoughts and guidelines. What if the government turns out to be the stumbling block?

Now there are informed sources that propound that the government does not have enough funds to pay stipulated amounts for some 2,000 medical graduates. Others suggest that the concerned minister has new additional responsibilities and is befuddled to make the right decision. Few others suggest that the pandemic is escalating its reach throughout the country and the state has the vision to ringfence eligible doctors to tide over the virus-related far-reaching detrimental effects.

For a common man though, it appears the government is busy with sleaze CDs and related controversies and focused on retaining their power rather than providing solace to young graduates. Every political leader offers his obeisance to the healthcare workers in this pandemic. Of what value is that a mere eyewash, if they cannot provide clarity to these young medical graduates who have been pushed into a state of limbo?

Bright medical graduates in a noble profession have gravitated to a state of utter confusion. The nobleness enhanced due to a continued pandemic onslaught and its lasting impression, probably best forgotten.

Do we need the legal system to step in to bail these graduates out of this limbo or would the media houses have the guts to deep dive into this situation to present a fair story to the public and the decision-makers? Or would political honchos play their ‘Hand of God’ to spin a different story and make these graduates a scapegoat in these circumstances?

Does it require more time to cast a spell of disillusionment on our medical graduates or will the system wake up instantly to motivate them to be the future proponents of the healthcare system? High time for the lip service by our so-called busy politicians to fructify in the most valued frontiers of our healthcare system.

Can we urge the government and the board to make the right decisions now and act as a beacon of light to these medical graduates? Our plight as well-wishers to watch this as mute spectators is akin to walking our future generation medical professionals straight to the altar called guillotine!