With the government planning to rope in final year MBBS students to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, the NEET PG entrance exams has been postponed by over four months.

The announcement was made by the office of the Prime Minister on Monday, May 3. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi authorises key decisions to boost the availability of medical personnel to fight COVID-19. NEET PG exams to be postponed for at least 4 months,” read an official statement by the PM’s office.

The government has also announced that anyone engaging in Covid-19 duty for 100 days will be given priority during government recruitments. In the Covid management facilities, while medical graduates will be put on roles such as teleconsultation under a senior doctor or helping treat mild cases, nursing graduates as well will be deployed on roles under the supervision of nursing superintendents or doctors.

In Karnataka, the state government is yet to make announcements pertaining to the allotments for the mandatory rural service of medical graduates.

On May 2, however, following a meeting held with the chief minister and the government’s technical committee on Covid-19 and representatives of the department of medical education and the department of health and family welfare, it was decided that final year medical students would be roped in for Covid-19 duties.

Final year students from allied streams- nursing, hospital management, physiotherapy, and Ayush will also be deployed in Covid-19 management facilities to treat mild cases under the supervision of senior doctors.

In a statement, chief minister B S Yediyurappa said on Twitter that in order to overcome the shortage of ‘medical human resource’, the government would rope in final year medical and nursing students and give them grace marks and that the final exams will be postponed.

Karnataka has been reporting over 44,000 new cases of Covid-19 even as a battle for oxygen and ICU beds continues to claim lives. 

Also read: NEET PG 2021: Students demand postponement of exams