Several postgraduate medical students, under the banner of Tamil Nadu Resident Doctors’ Association, boycotted outpatient department (OPD) services as a sign of protest over the delay in holding counselling for NEET-PG 2021.

As part of the Statewide protest, the resident doctors decided to stay away from OPD services from Wednesday until their demand to conduct counselling was met. In Chennai, the doctors staged demonstrations at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) and the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.

While the NEET-PG was held in September, counselling had not been conducted because of a case in the Supreme Court over the EWS quota. “First, the NEET-PG was postponed and held in September. Now, the counselling has been delayed. This led to washout of an entire academic year for medical students,” said a doctor at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.

Faced with financial constraints, many aspirants were in a dilemma as to whether to wait for counselling or take up employment.

“The next court hearing is scheduled to be held in January. It will take another two or three months [to get a clear picture]. So, the government should conduct counselling on an urgent basis by following the existing reservation structure,” a resident doctor of RGGGH said.

The association urged the Centre and the Supreme Court to take note of the grievance of resident doctors and take steps to expedite NEET-PG counselling as well as the admission process and speed up court proceedings.

The delay in admission had caused a strain on the existing resident doctors. They said the workload of the existing postgraduate doctors had increased as they were involved in COVID-19 vaccination, flood relief camps and dengue management.