The exam is generally held in December-January but in 2021 it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was held in September 2021. However, counselling for students who appeared for the exam has not been conducted yet because of cases pending in the Supreme Court over reservations to the economically weaker section. The delay in counselling has resulted in shortage of doctors at hospitals, increasing workload for existing resident doctors. Protests over the delay in counselling began on November 27 with resident doctors boycotting work in out patient departments which gradually escalated to “withdrawal from all service”. The boycott was suspended on December 9 after the doctors were given assurances that the counselling schedule will be released in a week, but they resumed the boycott from December 17 as the government failed to act on those assurances. On 27 December 2021, resident doctors that were marching towards the Supreme Court were stopped and “brutally thrashed, dragged, and detained” by the Delhi Police according to FORDA, an association of resident doctors.
