Uttar Pradesh: Statewide strike of residents opposing new UPPGMEE merit list

Uttar Pradesh: The recent order of the Supreme Court implicating fresh admission to PG courses, after giving preference to doctors a part of Provincial Medical Health Services (PMHS) who have served in rural areas has led to a major furor in the state. Reportedly, PG students, who had earlier been granted admissions on May 1, are protesting over fresh admissions sought through a new merit list of Uttar Pradesh Postgraduate Medical Entrance Exam (UPPGMEE) 2016 at King George's Medical University (KGMU). Similar situation is persisting in other colleges of the state including LLRM, Meerut, where students/doctors have been reported to have gone on a strike opposing this decision

Admissions to 425 post graduate medical seats through UPPGMEE-2016 (Uttar Pradesh Postgraduate Medical Entrance Examination) finally began in Lucknow on Monday amid protests and heavy police deployment. Around 330 MBBS students were earlier allotted MD/MS/diploma medical seats in the state. UPPGMEE was conducted in March this year for granting admissions. After completing admission based on the first merit list taken out from April 4 to April 8, doctors who were granted admission had even started work from May.

An interim order by the apex court, which grants up to 30% extra marks PMHS doctors for providing healthcare services in rural areas, completely toppled the situation. The new merit list will apparently taken into consideration the service tenure of each doctor in rural areas, to grand admissions in PG courses. Now, the protesting students are waiting for the final hearing on the matter. They have filed a review petition in the court, and also expect the government to hold any action of fresh admission, till then. On the other hand, PMHS candidates have gone to the SC, to grant them incentive based on their service in rural areas. They hold this view taking in to account the fact of strengthening healthcare in rural areas.

Speaking to Medical Dialogues team, Dr Dhruv, RDA representative, KGMU said, "Earlier, when the first merit list came out, only three or four students of PMHS had scored ranks in top 200. However, with the new system 190 out 200 are PMHS students. Such a marking scheme is certainly not fair.

Meanwhile, even the PMHS candidates are putting the blame on the government that they have not been provided enough security during the counseling process. They have demanded attention of the CM on the matter for a change in the counseling venue. They have even suggested using video conferencing for counseling.

After receiving the order from the SC, Medical education department took a decision to go with fresh admissions on May 26. This revised merit list is also reported to have cancelled admissions of many candidates (who have not served rural area in the state so far). Dr VN Tripathi, Director General Medical Education, said to TOI that, "We are talking to protesting students and trying to persuade them for getting at least partial counselling done. Their anger is justified, but stalling the process under the SC order will not help. We are hopeful of getting the counselling done in the next two days."

The subject matter seems to have gone viral on the internet, as many families have joined the protest against the revised admissions. A Facebook page has been created, and many students from different parts of the state are supporting the cause. There are more than 3,000 likes on the recently uploaded page.

Students occupied the stairs at entrance to the counselling venue, while PMHS candidates took the space on the opposite side. "The order is from SC and its mandate has to be complied with. The medical education department should secure us and our documents," said Dr Sanket Tyagi, a PMHS candidate to TOI. He added, "Only 130 PMHS candidates are eligible for counselling out of the total 425 seats which is around 20%." Dr VN Tripathi, director general medical education said, "We are talking to protesting students and trying to persuade them to let at least partial counselling commence. lling done in the next two days."