MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently granted interim relief to a medical aspirant with 80% locomotor disability, who was declared ineligible to pursue a career as a doctor by a medical board by the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital citing National Medical Commission guidelines.
Hearing a petition filed by the aspirant MK Nivetha in 2022, Justice V Lakshminarayanan observed that though the court is not qualified to sit on an appeal over a medical board’s decision, it has the power to refer a candidate’s case to any other premier medical institute which has the facility for assessment. If the second medical board’s report goes in favour of the person with disability (PwD), then the court can take a call as to which report must be accepted, he added.
The judge directed the JIPMER director to constitute a disability assessment board in a month to record whether Nivetha’s disability will or will not come in the way of her pursuing the medical course. The board was also told to file a report to the court stating reasons for its decision.
Nivetha stated in her petition that she had passed NEET in 2021 and had gone to RGGH, the only centre in the state, to obtain a disability certificate. She was subjected to several assessments, and the reports were positive. Despite this, she was declared ineligible on December 24, 2021 as she did not have the pointer and little finger in her right hand, affecting conducting of surgeries. However, she said that she is left-handed and can use the right hand despite the missing fingers, and sought the court’s help.