Medico admissions: Get cracking

The government has told the Supreme Court that it has decided to accept the recommendation of the committee it had set up last year to revise the income limit for availing reservation in admissions for the economically weaker sections (EWS) to post-graduate medical courses. The committee has recommended that the ceiling of annual family income of `8 lakh may be retained.

It was for the first time that the Union government had in July last year decided to implement reservation for the economically weaker sessions as well as the other backward classes in post-graduate medical courses for this academic year. The government’s decision to put a cap of `8 lakh as family income to avail the quota under EWS was questioned in the Supreme Court. Once the court is seized of the matter, it will have to go through the routine processes, and there is no wonder in that the issue gets dragged on, torpedoing the counselling process for the admissions which were to be done in October.

A fact that is little known to the public is that it is the post-graduate students who are the workhorses in most medical colleges. Their duty time extends up to

72 hours non-stop, which could sound inhuman and improbable but true. They ensure proper services and care to the patients. With the threat of the pandemic

Covid-19 taking the form of a wave and overwhelming the hospital infrastructure in the country looming, the government has little leeway to play around with arguments and counter-arguments.

It must convince the Supreme Court on the urgency of the matter and procure the permission to go ahead with the admissions. The legal points could be argued and the court can come to a conclusion on the sustainability of the criterion for the quota at a later stage. The nation cannot afford to miss the services of the young crop of doctors in these critical times.