The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has announced that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-PG) for postgraduate medical aspirants will be postponed for another four months. The decision comes at a time when the country is reeling under the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a meeting on Monday, the Prime Minister gave his approval for the decision to postpone the entrance exam. It is understood that the call was taken to make final year MBBS students, who are the aspirants for NEET-PG, to be available for tele-consultation facilities and to monitor mild COVID-19 patients under the supervision of a faculty member. The exam was scheduled to be held on April 18; three days before the exam, the Union government announced that it was postponing it. It further announced that the fresh date for the exam will be announced later.
Apart from the decision on NEET-PG, several other decisions were also taken by the Prime Minister in Monday’s meeting, like announcing that medical personnel who complete 100 days of COVID-19 duty will be given priority for government recruitments in the future. In an attempt to ramp up the manpower requirement to deal with the COVID-19 crisis being faced by the nation, the Prime Minister also announced that medical interns will be deployed for COVID-19 management under the supervision of their faculty members. General Nursing and Midwifery-qualified nurses and those who completed B Sc nursing will also be deployed for COVID-19 nursing duties under the supervision of senior doctors and nurses, as per a statement from the government. The PMO also announced that medical personnel who complete 100 days of COVID-19 duties will be awarded with the Prime Minister’s Distinguished Covid National Service Samman, as a token of the government’s appreciation.
On Sunday, India reported over 3.69 lakh new COVID-19 cases and 3,455 deaths, as per reports. The total number of COVID-19 cases in India, as of May 2 stood at 1,99,19,900.