The Centre on Monday invited medical graduates across India studying for the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test for postgraduate (PG) courses to join the Covid-19 workforce, assuring them that the exam will not be held before August 31.

The Union health ministry has asked states to reach out to all such prospective NEET candidates and persuade them to join the Covid-19 workforce and help augment human resources at a time the savage second wave of the pandemic has overwhelmed hospitals and medical staff.

The ministry also said it would give the candidates at least one month’s time for study period after the announcement of the examination date.

More than 150,000 medical graduates are estimated to be preparing for the NEET-PG 2021 that was scheduled for January 2021 but has been postponed, first to April 2021 and now to beyond August 31.

The ministry has also asked states to fill up vacant posts of doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff within 45 days through contractual appointments and use services of final-year MBBS students, final-year PG students, and final-year BSc qualified nurses for Covid-19 care.

Public and private hospitals may avail of these relaxations, the ministry said, adding that medical personnel who complete 100 days of Covid-19 duties will be given priority in forthcoming regular government recruitments.

Health experts tracking the second wave have said these moves were overdue as the numbers of new infections and active patients in many parts of India have grown beyond the capacity of hospitals or healthcare staff to manage with ideal high efficiency.

India recorded over 368,000 new infections on Monday, raising the total number of active patients to over 3.41 million, more than three times higher than the peak counts of patients in mid-September last year during the first wave.

“Unprecedented problems warrant unprecedented solutions — and this is one of those periods,” said Santanu Tripathi, former professor of pharmacology at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine.

Sections of medical graduates, however, say they are dismayed by the Centre’s decision to postpone the NEET-PG exam. “I think this is a short-sighted decision — taken by people who have little idea about what studying for the exam involves,” an aspiring candidate told The Telegraph.

India would have had nearly 40,000 extra medical graduates working as residents and available for Covid-19 duties had NEET 2021 been held in January as planned when the number of daily new Covid-19 cases had fallen significantly, the candidate said.

The parent of a NEET 2021 candidate said students typically study 15 or 16 hours a day for months to score high in the exam and working full-time in a hospital wouldn’t provide them enough time to study. “Getting a month before the exam isn’t enough — the syllabus is like a bottomless pit.”