Medical students are relieved after the state minister of medical education Amit Deshmukh on Thursday announced that examinations of medical students to be conducted from April 19 via offline mode by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), Nashik will be held in June.
This decision was taken after discussions with the Chief Minister (CM) of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray considering several risks amidst rising Covid-19 cases in the state.
Students of second and third year medical Undergraduate (UG) programmes were demanding postponement of final exams that were scheduled to begin from April 19 citing Covid-19 risks. Pallak Mishra, a third year medical student said, "I am glad final exams are deferred because the situation with the surge in Covid-19 cases is quite severe. Appearing for offline exams seemed quite risky when cases are increasing every day."
While, Shardul Pant, a second year medical student said, "If the situation does not improve in June, the state should look at alternative methods for conduct of medical exams. We should not be forced to put our lives at risk and appear for offline examinations."
This is the third time medical examinations are postponed as exams were originally scheduled to take place in February 2021. Due to rising Covid-19 cases, the exams were postponed from February to March and then to April by MUHS. Now, the exams have been postponed to June. Deshmukh said, "The detailed schedule of the examination will be announced by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik." MUHS, Nashik governs all the medical and dental colleges of Maharashtra.
