With Delayed Admission, Medical Colleges to accommodate two first year MBBS Batches
Mumbai: With the messed up academic calendar, the medical colleges in the Mumbai and Maharashtra are making arrangements to welcome the new batch of MBBS students before the previous batch gets promoted to the next academic year.
Such a situation has been caused by the fact that even though the 2021-22 batch of first year students will get promoted in January 2022, the new first year batch for 2022-2023 academic year is expected to join college by October 2022.
Therefore, while the medical aspirants are waiting for the results of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2022 to get published, the medical colleges in Maharashtra are preparing the classrooms and labs so that two first year MBBS batches can be accommodated together.
It was the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that had messed up with the schedule. Due to this, last year NEET UG 2021 got delayed and the exam was finally conducted in September 2021. Even after the publication of results on November 1, the counselling process got delayed because of pending court cases. Finally the Supreme Court vacated the long stay in the first week of January 2022. Consequently, the first seat allotment list for the 2021-2022 academic year for MBBS and BDS was released on January 31.
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As per the schedule of the academic calendar of the academic year 2021-2022, the academic session for MBBS course commenced from February 14, 2022 and it will get concluded in June 2027. The first year of the course for the 2021-2022 batch will get concluded in January 2023.
Although the first year MBBS batch is yet to get promoted, this year, NEET UG 2022 was conducted on July 17 and the results have not been published yet. Keeping in mind the delayed admission last year, this year the medical colleges do not want to delay the process any further. This means that the new MBBS batch is expected to join the colleges by October.
While commenting on the same, a spokesperson for a Pune-based private medical college told Hindustan Times, "Our laboratories can only accommodate a few students at a time, so all our practical lectures have to be slotted in advance so no two batches clash. With this extra batch, we will have to start conducting practical classes in two shifts so that no students miss out on practical classes."
He informed the daily that apart from arranging for the classrooms, the colleges are also working to accommodate all the students in the existing hostel space.
Speaking to HT, the dean of KJ Somaiya Medical College, Vidyavihar said, "Our staff has already put together a timetable to accommodate both the batches, since this overlap will only be for two or three months. Usually, our anatomy practical sessions are held on alternate days, but once the new first year batch joins college, we will ensure that the practical classes are held every day, and in two batches to accommodate all."
She further mentioned that for subjects such as physiology and biology as well, the teachers will have to conduct two batches on everyday basis since it would not be possible to fit all the students in a single classroom.
Meanwhile, while commenting on the situation, parent of a medical student and activist said, "Every year, delays due to various reasons affect admissions, and eventually eat into the academic time allotted to every batch. Hopefully this year it will be conducted without any delay and students won't have to suffer."
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