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Madras High Court: The Madras High Court on Thursday said postgraduate students, who were on Covid-19 duty in government hospitals, will also be eligible for incentive marks for selection to the post of assistant surgeon. The first bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatchakraborty delivered the verdict while partially allowing the petition filed by Dr D Hariharan and three other doctors.
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Upholding the government order of August 17, 2023, granting incentive points to health professionals performing COVID-19 related duties in regular government appointments, the bench dismissed the petitions filed by Dr. T. Ajay and 26 other doctors, including G. The validity of the .O. was challenged.
The bench said that the petitioners and other similarly situated applicants, who performed COVID-19 duties, should also be considered as “Medical Officers” for the purpose of awarding incentive points under G.O.
what did the court say
The court said that it is true that the services provided by the PG students were part of the 36-month period training that they undergo. The said period was considered as practical training towards the subject they study. Due to the extraordinary situation arising out of the pandemic, they were also deputed for COVID-19 duty in the respective wards in government hospitals.
There is no dispute that they performed the same duties and were subjected to the same rigor as other medical officers recruited by the State Government. In fact, the persons who were recruited by the state government for the purpose of performing COVID-19 duties in these wards set up as part of disaster management were classified as “medical officers”.