The application deadline for the NEET PG 2023 exam is January 27. Despite calls for postponement from some students, others are fully engaged in preparation. Meanwhile, a portion of students are still unable to participate as their internships will not end before the June 30 cut-off date.
This section demands that the cut-off date be extended to July 31, as otherwise, students will be losing a year. In Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand, the internship is ending later than the deadline.
The crisis has been averted in Madhya Pradesh as the Madhya Pradesh High Court granted interim relief to students who were not eligible to apply for the NEET PG 2023 exam due to the June 30 internship cut-off date. The students will now be allowed to apply for the exam. "But a final hearing on the matter will happen on February 8," informs Gaurav Tyagi, an expert on NEET-related matters.
Dr Vivek Pandey, an RTI and health activist from MP says, "Three students had filed the petition. They will be writing the exam, though their internship gets over on July 25. Many students in a similar situation are relieved."
However, students in Telangana have had no such luck. The Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) extended the internship end date to August 11, and students approached the university to ask the government for extending the deadline. "If it is not done, no student from the state will be eligible. This is the university's responsibility and the authorities should work out a solution," said Dr Karthik Nagula, President of Telangana JUDA (Junior Doctors' Association).
He informed that KNRUHS wrote to the NMC (National Medical Commission) on the issue about 10-15 days ago, and NMC is yet to respond. "If no solution arrives, we will be taking the matter to Health Minister T Harish Rao soon," Dr Nagula said. Asked if any student was planning to approach the court, he said no. "We are waiting for a resolution by the university's intervention as of now," the President stated.
As for the other states also, students have not taken any legal recourse. However, demands for an extension of the cut-off date and postponement of the exam abound. Students, parents and doctors' associations are taking to social media platforms to draw the government's attention to their concerns.
