Doctors Move SC Over Cancellation Of AIIMS INI CET Counselling

 

Introduction

Upset with the cancellation of further rounds of INI CET PG medical counselling in the Institutes of National Importance, the doctors have now approached the Supreme Court seeking relief.

 

Upset with the cancellation of further rounds of INI CET PG medical counselling in the Institutes of National Importance, the doctors have now approached the Supreme Court seeking relief.

Referring to the notice issued by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi on September 19, 2022, the doctors under the umbrella of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) have also written to the AIIMS director and pointed out more than 50% vacant seats in multiple departments of various institutes.

 

"This will lead to an immense burden on the existing workforce, predominantly the Junior Residents who have already worked tremendously during the last 3 waves of the pandemic, to manage the regular clinical duties along with additional COVID duties," the doctors expressed their concern in the letter dated September 27, 2022.

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Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that through a recent notice, AIIMS had informed about regarding the other counselling process for INI-CET for admission in MD/MS/DM(06yrs)/M.Ch(06yrs)MDS courses for AIIMS New Delhi & 11 other AIIMS, JIPMER, NIMHANS, PGIMER & SCTIMST.

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Clarifying that no further round of seat allocation shall be conducted for the INI-CET July 2022 session, the notice mentioned, "In continuation of the schedule of online seat allocation and the order of Hon'ble Supreme court of India in Miscellaneous Application No. 1566/2022 in WP (C) No. 1329/2021, no further round of seat allocation for INI-CET July-2022 session will be conducted."

However, this decision was a massive shock for the residents eager to join the Institutes of National Importance. Referring to this, a recent press release by FAIMA Doctors Association stated, "This sudden decision has come as a shock to the residents of the INIs who have been eagerly waiting for new residents to join the departments to replace the residents who have passed out of the departments in the last 6 months."

"The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has written to the Director, AIIMS New Delhi, on behalf of residents working at various departments of Institutes of National Importance (INIs) of the country, viz. AIIMS (New Delhi), JIPMER (Puducherry), NIMHANS (Bengaluru), PGIMER (Chandigarh), SCTIMST (Trivandrum) and 11 other AIIMS which are participating in the INICET 2022 Counselling," the Press Release by FAIMA added.

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"We have requested him to look into the matter urgently as a huge number of seats are remaining vacant in major clinical departments and more than 50% seats vacant in multiple departments of various institutes," it further mentioned.

Writing to the Director of AIIMS, New Delhi, the doctors under FAIMA stated, "We also want to apprise you sir that this has led many 1st year junior residents to consider leaving the seat in our premier INIs and take up a seat in the ongoing NEET PG 2022 Counselling so that they do not have to face the increased departmental workload on their own, if this happens with the possibility of a fourth wave in the next few months not completely ruled out, it may be catastrophic for our healthcare system."

"Not only will it become difficult for most of our residents to manage the huge number of patients these hospitals cater to, but also the quality of care which these institutes are known for, will be adversely affected," the letter added.

Apart from this, FAIMA executives from the INIs have also approached the Supreme Court seeking relief. Speaking to Medical Dialogues in this regard, Dr Suvrankar Datta of AIIMS Delhi, who is also the chief advisor to the FAIMA President, said, "The entire counselling process was supposed to be finished within August 31. However, only the first two rounds were finished and therefore the further rounds of counselling were cancelled. The notice of AIIMS Delhi regarding this came to us on September 19 and we were definitely surprised."

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Explaining the effects of this on the healthcare system, he added, "Several seats are lying vacant in the institutes of national importance. If the counselling does not happen, then in the next three to four months, till the new batch arrives there will be a lesser number of workforce in the form of Junior residents in different INIs. The JRs are responsible for a lot of important cases and tertiary care. In order to cater to such a huge amount of patients, we need an adequate number of residents. The quality of care may be compromised if the counseling does not happen."

Confirming that they have approached the Supreme Court in this regard, Dr Datta added, "FAIMA executives who are in the INIs are also petitioners in a Supreme Court . We have also requested the CJI for an early hearing."