The postgraduate medical aspirants have expressed their concerns over the decision to hold the Institutes of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INICET) on June 16, 2021 saying that most of them have been busy working as frontline workers on COVID-19 duties. Soon after the INICET dates were announced by AIIMS in a notification on May 27, a large number of MBBS students took to social media to raise their concerns.
Earlier, the exam was scheduled to be held on May 8 but was postponed due to the second wave of Covid-19 raging in the country. But now as the new date has been announced, there is confusion and chaos among the doctors as they do not have time for preparations.
INICET is exam that students have to take for admission to the postgraduate courses in prominent medical institutes of the country like - AIIMS (All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; JIPMER (Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry) among others. The aspirants are urging the government to postpone the exam, as they have very small window of 20 days for preparation between the date of notification and the test date.
They say that they were assured that there would be no exams till August 31. One student tweeted: “Go back to work, no exam till 31st August...Many had taken up COVID-19 duties in various hospitals after the Union government urged MBBS students to join the fight against the pandemic."
Another one said, "We are not asking for cancellation, just give us one month prior notice for preparations. pls #postponeICINET".
An aspirant tweeted to explain that those who took up the pandemic duty had signed a bond for a period of three months. And they need to inform one month in advance if they plan to leave Covid duty.
"Most medical students are continuously giving their services during this pandemic, they are pressed for time in serving nation. How will the students prepare for exams? Students urging for at least a month's time," says Ravi Shankar Tiwari (Head Team Indian medicos & National chairperson of AIMSA Research Committee) to India TV.
Earlier, the Prime Minister's Office had postponed the NEET PG 2021 for at least four months, the medical student community was hoping that the AIIMS examination would also be conducted around this period. After the notification for INICET, there is a lot of uncertainty among students who say "this is a crisis situation and there is a lot of anxiety and stress".
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