Exam failure leaves OMC anaesthesia students numb

HYDERABAD: Staying away from work for 62 days owing to the strike by Telangana Junior Doctors' Association (TJUDA) last year seems to have backfired on the final-year students of the anaesthesia department in the Osmania Medical College (OMC). More than 50% of the students have failed to obtain the pass marks in the practical examinations.
Of the 32 students in the anaesthesia department, TJUDA members said that only 15 managed to reach the cut off marks of 150 in the practical exams, leaving the remaining 17 students ­ six in-service PG students and 11 regular PG students ­ in a state of shock and disbelief.
“This is the first time in the history of OMC that medicos have performed so badly . In the worst case sce nario, the fail percentage in a department never crosses 10-20%. The results appear to be vengeful as all the medicos shown as having failed in the practical exam not only passed in their theory paper but actually secured good marks,“ said Dr G Srinivas, TJUDA state president.
Interestingly, among those who failed is one who scored 247 out of 400 in the theory exam, becoming the third among toppers in the final year in the anaesthesia department.
Several students in the department alleged that they were warned on a number of occasions by their department head during the two-month TJUDA strike period.
“Though in-service PG students were on duty during the strike period, we opposed the extra workload and stayed away from work on World Anaesthesia Day on October 16 to express solidarity with TJUDA.This seems to have gone against us,“ said an in-service student on condition of anonymity .
When contacted, Dr N Ramani, director of medical education (DME), said she was not aware about the high fail percentage in the anaesthesia department. However, she gave a clean chit to the examiners. “There cannot be scope for foul play as practical exam is conducted in the presence of four examiners ­ two internal and two external,“ she saidEforts to contact the head of anaesthesia, OMC, Dr CG Raghuram went in vain.