Mumbai: JJ doctors allege unfair practices in medical exam

Three senior doctors attached to Grant Medical College and JJ Group of hospitals have alleged unfair practice in the selection of examiners for conducting Doctor of Medicine MD examinations The doctors said that the system was not only discriminating between fulltime and honorary faculty members but was possibly also giving unfair advantage to some studentsThe doctors complained that although they had been teaching students and treating patients at Grant Medical College and JJ Hospital for decades they were deprived of a chance to be examiners File picDoctors Wiqar Shaikh Professor Hemant Gupta Associate Professor and PS Tampi Assistant Professor are all honorary faculty members attached to the medical college on a regular contractual basis They alleged that that the system discriminates against them when appointing examiners consistently preferring to appoint fulltime faculty members instead Out of the three of them only Dr Shaikh was selected as invigilator once last year but has not been reappointed this yearThis has now become a prestige issue with the three doctors questioning why the institute is depriving them of the opportunity to become invigilators too These allegations were made in a letter to the Maharashtra Governor who is also Chancellor of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences MUHS in Nashik which conducts graduate and postgraduate medical examinations in the state ldquoWe feel that it is unfair to other post graduate teachers like us to be deprived of becoming examiners We are unhappy that one of us Dr Wiqar Shaikh who was appointed as examiner in 2015 has not been reappointed this year despite the fact that a fair examination was conducted with no complaints from either the students or universityrdquo the letter statedDr Tampi said ldquoWhenever it come to examinations we honorary doctors are given step motherly treatment as the fulltimers get appointed as examiners We are expected to render our services for teaching and treating patients but are being deprived of an opportunity to become university examinersrdquoUnfair advantageMore importantly however the letter claims that one fulltime doctor in particular mdash Dr V K Joglekar professor and head of the department of medicine mdash has been selected as examiner repeatedly over the years ldquoHe has been made examiner more than 20 times for the MD examinations Each professor has students under him and the chances of an examiner favouring their own student cannot be ruled out unless the examiners are changed in rotationrdquo said Dr ShaikhHowever Dr Joglekar rubbished the claim that he had been appointed 20 times ldquoI was selected as the examiner for the PG students in the year 2010 and 2011 Subsequently in 2012 and 2013 I was not the examiner Again in 2014 and 2015 I was appointed as the examiner for PG students The university appointed me on rotation basis every two years as per the guidelines of the Medical Council of IndiardquoHowever he confirmed that he received an appointment letter this year as well making it the third consecutive year He added that he was not keen on taking up the post of examiner however ldquoIt hampers my daily routine of examining patients and teaching students But if the university insists I will take up the examiner role for this year toordquoMUHS saysThe controller of examinations at MUHS Dr KD Chavan said ldquoWe follow the Medical Council of Indiarsquos guidelines and the board selects the examiners for not more than two consecutive years on a rotation basis I will have to look into this matterrdquoBut Dr Shaikh countered that if examiners are selected for two years why wasnrsquot he appointed this year after serving on the panel last year ldquoI have served the government for decades both teaching students and treating patients I am entitled to conduct exams for MBBS and MD students This year I have been selected as the chief examiner for conducting MBBS examination but I am deprived of being the examiner for the MD examinationrdquo he said