Mumbai: Earlier this week, Chief Justice of India D.Y.

The Medical Consultative Committee (MCC) of the Directorate General of Health Services, an umbrella body of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, alone deals with around 400 cases every year. From High Courts to the Supreme Court, the admission season is influenced by litigation in the court, from students aspiring to become doctors to doctors aspiring to become specialists and super-specialists. Sometimes, there are other stakeholders and the stakes are even higher.

For example National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate courses. In the last four years, there has been an increase of about 25% in the number of candidates registering for the exam. Last year around 17.6 lakh students appeared for the exam – the highest for any competitive exam in the country. In contrast, the number of engineering aspirants (registering for JEE-Main) in the country fell in the same four years – from 11.5 lakh in 2019 to 9.05 lakh in 2022. If one takes into account the direct ratio of students to medical, 33 candidates are on top preference for one seat in a government college. It gets even more skewed if the pool of seats in each category is considered.

NEET-PG sees more litigation, says Dr Praveen Shingare, former director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research, Maharashtra. “The ratio of PG and UG cases can be 9:1. There is a lot of emphasis on the parents and even the students pursuing PG degree from the college. For colleges, more people going for higher studies Students give them brownie points. The recognition process. There is also a general feeling that mere MBBS degree is of no importance. However, this is ruining the study culture,” he said. Shingare said, “Instead of focusing on their one-year internship, most of the good students are spending time on NEET preparation. We hear about cases of students manipulating internship completion certificates.”

Even as thousands of students appeared for their NEET-PG today (Sunday), the courts witnessed several litigations seeking postponement of the exams till last week. “There is no uniformity in the program followed by different states, even when there is a central exam for all. Students have to mandatorily complete their internship to be eligible for PG seat, but internship is mandatory in all states. Deadlines vary. Talk of completing exams in March and waiting till July and August for counseling rounds? Such policy decisions are not student friendly, and hence have been met with protests,” said parent representative Sudha Shenoy .

The number of seats at PG level is decreasing. A PG student said, “Many people prefer dermatology, radiology and medicine as compared to other courses like surgery at PG level. There are one or no seats in top colleges for these popular courses.”

Former Member (Board of Governors), erstwhile Medical Council of India and Dean (Projects), Tata Memorial Hospital, Dr. Kailash Sharma said that the Government of India’s MCC requires clarity from apex bodies like the National Medical Commission. “Similar cases in lower courts should be bundled and heard by the top court, which will also reduce the time spent on each case,” Sharma said.

Meanwhile, the complexity in the admissions process has given rise to a micro-industry of medical education consultants. “The process is complicated for an 18-year-old to manage on his own,” said Dr. Milind Navlakhe, Professor at KEM. His son will give NEET-UG exam this year.