The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Postgraduate (NEET-PG) exams are scheduled for May 21. And with just nine days to go, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), via a letter, has urged the Health Ministry to reschedule the NEET 2022 PG exam date. They join many other students and associations who have been demanding the same.
The letter was written by the association on Wednesday, May 11, in which, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) asked Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to delay the NEET PG exam. The association has asked for an extension of at least six to ten weeks so that aspirants can prepare and appear for this "extremely difficult exam".
It may be recalled that the examination was already deferred once from March 12 to the current date.
"As a result of the delayed counselling schedule, NEET PG 2022 was deferred … so that the candidates could appear for the stray vacancy round of NEET-PG 2021 and can still have plenty of time for preparation and re-appearance for the next NEET-PG 2022 exam if they fail to secure a seat this year… The difference between NEET PG 2022 exam date and completion of 2021 counselling is too short for the aspirant to prepare and appear for an extremely difficult exam like NEET-PG," said in their letter.
It should be noted that even the counselling session for the year 2021 was repeatedly delayed and started only in January of this year. The counselling process itself went on for longer due to litigation, one of which resulted in the third mop-up round being dropped and a special round conducted, and procedural lapses such as why some seats were filled in offline counselling but were consequently allotted to another student too, as stated in The Indian Express.
“Another innocent five to ten thousand interns, who served as COVID warriors during COVID-19 pandemic, are ineligible to appear for NEET-PG due to delay in completion of their final examination and consequently their internship beyond eligibility criteria set for the examination,” the IMA wrote.
Nearly three-fourths of the students attempt NEET-PG multiple times to get into the college and course they aspire for therefore, these delays matter. The students have stated the dates of counselling for 2021 and the test for 2022 may clash for some as stray vacancies are still being filled and counselling is still going on in a few states.
Some of the doctors who took part in a strike in December last year demanding that the NEET PG counselling should be expedited have also held up the current demand because they said that the resident doctors are already overworked, a delay of just two months will affect them more.
However, others continue to say that with the outgoing third-year batch starting to leave, the resident doctors will again be left with only two-thirds of the strength. As a part of their training, PG students work as junior residents at medical college hospitals.
"We are sure that the issue shall be dealt with urgency by granting the prayer as made herein above in larger academic and societal interest as a whole," it further said.
