Govt may ask final-year MBBS students to join Covid duty, delay NEET amid crisis

Final-year students of medical and nursing courses could be asked to join the Covid force, government sources have said. The decision is said to have been taken at a virtual meeting of PM Narendra Modi with experts to review oxygen and medicine availability.

The Centre may ask medical students, including final-year students of MBBS, to help India battle coronavirus crisis, as per government sources, amid a shortage of healthcare personnel as India battles the second wave of Covid-19. According to sources, steps to incentivise students and pass-outs of medical and nursing courses to join Covid duty were taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. In the meeting, the PM reviewed the human resource situation in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and ways to augment it, sources said.