With the Supreme Court deferring the hearing of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET-PG) Admissions 2024 to November 19, aspirants are yet again disappointed due to the lack of an update on the counselling dates.

The National Body of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), which administers the NEET PG, has yet to announce the counselling dates despite the exam having taken place on August 11 — over two months ago.

Neither the NBEMS nor the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHoFW) issued any direction or an update on when the counselling is expected to be conducted so far, adding to the confusion of the candidates.

Therefore, the deferred hearing comes as another blow to the candidates’ expectations regarding directions on when the NEET PG counselling would be held.

Candidates say that this inordinate delay is adding undue financial and mental stress on them.

“As first-generation doctors, we want to establish our careers and take care of our families. However, we are unable to find employment with just our MBBS degrees. Private hospitals don’t pay enough, and public hospitals have low recruitment, despite having vacancies. The only option left for us is to pursue speciality in our postgraduation,” says Dr Senthil Kumar, a NEET PG aspirant from Tamil Nadu and member of the Tamil Nadu Medical Students' Association.

With this delay, doctors are left in an uncertain state, as they are stuck in limbo about whether to wait till the counselling dates are announced or seek work, he says.

“Several NEET PG aspirants are currently in a state of unemployment, and the delay in announcing the counselling dates has led to 2024 looking like an unnecessary gap year in their careers,” says Dr Dhruv Chauhan, National Convener of the Indian Medical Association-Junior Doctors’ Network (IMA-JDN).

"A lot of us have been out of work for a year, as we were preparing for NEET PG. We had already been taking a hit financially. Now, this delay has been affecting us mentally as well," says Dr Kumar.

Dr Kumar adds that the delay in counselling is detrimental not only to aspirants but also to the medical system as a whole.

“When a new batch is not admitted, the pressure on postgraduate junior residents increases manifold, as they have to shoulder the entire workload by themselves,” he says.

Adding to this, Dr Chauhan says, “In many hospitals in India, especially those in rural areas, it is PG Junior Residents and interns who take care of the hospital’s functioning. Their range of activities ranges from visiting and facing patients to planning surgical procedures. If the counselling is delayed, these responsibilities would have to be shouldered by first and second year PG medical students alone, without a new batch to support them.”

He adds that the increased workload further contributes to toxicity and stress faced by junior residents.

However, the delay in counselling also has to do with the academic calendar and rules laid out by the National Medical Commission (NMC), a few aspirants say.

“The NBE has given a deadline of October 31 to all colleges to announce the vacant seats. The counselling dates would not be announced until then,” claims an aspirant, on the condition of anonymity.

He further adds that the NMC states that medical colleges and teaching batches are rule-bound to not have more than three batches at once. “The current academic year, including the final exams will end on January 31, 2025. It is only after that can the new batch be admitted,” he says.

However, Dr Chauhan says that this is a result of the disruptions in the academic calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Instead of restoring the original academic calendar, the NBE is sticking to the delayed cycle — and even causing further delay by not announcing the counselling dates,” he explains.

The lack of response from the Ministry of Health, as well as the NMC only adds insult to injury, compelling students to campaign for the release of counselling dates in a myriad of ways, he adds.

As a result, candidates are looking for an update on the counselling schedule, as it has been delayed significantly due to the numerous disruptions and controversies that rocked the exam.

“The exam had already been postponed twice this year; we hope that the counselling dates are announced quickly and we move forward with our PG admissions,” says Dr Kumar.

In other news, NEET PG aspirants have announced a social media storm on X at 5 PM today, October 26, and demand an update on the counselling, using the hashtags “#Start_NeetPG_Counselling” and “#NBEMS_Failed”.