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Medical colleges in India are preparing to tackle the unique challenge of teaching two batches of postgraduate students in a year as the pandemic delayed the start the 2021 academic session to June even as results for the 2022 session were announced last week.

The results of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test postgraduate 2022 (NEETPG-2022) were announced on Wednesday within a record 10 days of the examination compared to the month it usually takes. They came a month after the end of the much-delayed counselling for the 2021 batch — from August and September last year to May this year, a delay caused by the pandemic — with students starting classes in June.

The counselling for the 2022 batch is likely to start in next 15-20 days, and their session will begin in July. Medical colleges are now desperately looking for answers on accommodating two batches of postgraduate students in the same year.

“This is an unusual situation where counselling for the previous batch was delayed unusually because of the pandemic, something none of us could have anticipated and prepared for,” a senior faculty member in a medical college said on condition of anonymity. “It is going to be difficult to teach two batches in the first year that has not happened ever before. A lot of arrangements will be required to ensure the quality of education is not affected.”

That is easier said than done: postgraduate medical education carries with it challenges even at the best of times. The difficulties range from adequate availability of faculty to scarcity of lecture theatres, laboratory facilities and hostel accommodation.

Colleges are holding meetings of heads of departments to find a way out before the next batch of students arrives.

“The first thing that everyone could think of immediately was to increase the number of classes,” said Dr Anup Kumar, head, department of urology, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital. “If we were having two lectures in the morning, for example, these will be increases to three or four. It is also important because the capacity of lecture theatres is limited, and to accommodate more students in one lecture theatre, we either need to create new lecture theatres or divide the number of students.”

Creating new lecture theatres might not be feasible in the short term and the more immediate solution would be to hold more sessions and divide the number of students, he added.

Although that would be a workable solution for some classes, it would not work for lessons in, for example, anatomy, where doctors need to receive hands-on training.

“There is no way to increase the number of students per bed,” a senior faculty member in a government hospital said, requesting anonymity.

Increasing the number of sessions would likely also not solve the issue with dissections too, as there is always a shortage of human bodies to train on, this person added. “It is going to be a problem.”

The limited number of faculty members to teach postgraduate programmes is another challenge.

“Not all doctors who treat patients teach students in the medical college. There could be three-four doctors who also work as a faculty,” said Dr Kumar. “Therefore, in a situation like this, the other option is to make use of all faculty members in every department. Whoever is eligible to teach could be roped in.”

Shortage of hostel rooms would be another issue, even though some colleges said it might not be an immediate problem as one batch will be on its way out.

“A significant number of doctors do not prefer staying in hostels and take up accommodation outside the campus because they do not want to share rooms or bathrooms. Also, many rooms are vacant because of the third year batch leaving, which is why accommodation will be least of the problems,” said Dr Aviral Mathur, president, residents doctors association, Delhi government’s Maulana Azad Medical College.

“Next year, there may be an issue when there will be an overlap in the months of May, June and July, if the fresh batch joins in time, and the third year students will have to stick around to complete the course till July,” he added.

The silver lining is that some colleges struggling with a shortage of resident doctors will now have enough.

“We were immensely short of resident doctors, which was affecting patient care in the hospital,” said Dr Suresh Kumar, medical superintendent, Lok Nayak Hospital. “With the new batches coming, that problem will be managed to quite an extent. As for managing extra student strength, we have the capacity to handle three batches. We will manage.”

But in colleges where residences are in short supply, competition will increase.

The results announced last week make MBBS graduates eligible to pursue MD (doctor of medicine), MS (master of surgery), and postgraduate diploma courses. Each year, over 150,000 to 170,000 candidates take the test for around 60,000 seats across the country. As many as 1,82,318 candidates took the test across 849 examination centres this year, government data show.

Rhythma Kaul works as an assistant editor at Hindustan Times. She covers health and related topics, including ministry of health and family welfare, government of India. ...view detail

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