The anxiously awaited National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate 2024 (NEET-PG) counselling schedule was out yesterday, November 1. Although this brings great relief to the stressed-out candidates, the inhibitions about the counselling process itself cannot be ignored.
When EdexLive endeavoured to understand the challenges this year's NEET-PG counselling will pose for the candidates, experts highlighted the overburdening of the existing system, uncertainty about the new changes, and lack of transparency and proper communication from the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) or the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) as a few of the difficulties.
To recall, the medical entrance examination was held on August 11 after multiple postponements, and the results were released on August 23. Following this, the registrations for NEET PG counselling started on September 20, and ever since, the candidates have been anxiously waiting for the counselling schedule...until yesterday.
Meanwhile, 19 petitioners are waiting for the hearing of their case in the Supreme Court against NEET PG exam irregularities.
Expressing a sign of relief on behalf of the candidates, Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) President Dr Suvrankar Datta said, "We are happy that they did not wait until the Supreme Court hearing to start the counselling. At the same time, we are looking at this schedule closely and consciously so that it actually is followed without any further roadblocks, either from the Centre or the states," Datta said in anticipation.
Overburdening of the existing system
Putting forth another perspective, Dr Datta said, "As the president of FAIMA, we have a lot of questions and queries from the Resident Doctors Associations (RDA) of the country regarding the schedule. Because the moment one delays something that prevents more doctors from joining the workforce, essentially, it overburdens the existing system."
"The second and third-year residents are already overburdened with duties when they actually should be preparing for their exams," he emphasised.
When it comes to the point that the current system is unreasonable and that the exam is a burden on both students and officials, education expert Ravi Krishnamurthy has a different take. In his point of view, the delay in the counselling process results in shorter academic sessions, which, in turn, burdens the candidates as well as the official bodies.
"The short academic sessions would give less time for preparation for medics. Additionally, in many hospitals, they are made to work for over 20 hours with no time left to prepare," he alleges.
In Krishnamurthy's perspective, NEET PG is a burden to both students and the exam conducting authorities. While students are overburdened with work, preparation, and the pressure to score good marks, authorities are burdened with conducting the exam and the evaluation of the same. As a remedy, he suggests duties of eight hours to 12 hours instead of 20 for medical students so that they have ample time for preperation.
Additionally, Krishnamurthy suggests that Heads of Departments (HoDs) evaluating the exam would ease the burden of the exam conducting body, he expresses. "This trend of HoDs evaluating the exam would deliver quality doctors as the candidates will be assessed by their HoDs who have been tracking their performance and training them," he adds.
Uncertainty about the new changes
Founder of NEET Navigator and a medical education consultant, Rakesh Jain, indicates that there's confusion among candidates regarding the single window for registration by the states. According to Jain, there are speculations that states would follow a single window process for registration this year.
As per reports, in a single window counselling process, candidates will have to register and fill in their preferences for colleges and courses through a centralised online portal. The counselling authority will then allocate seats based on merit and the choices made by the candidates.
If this is how it happens, Jain predicts financial burdens, logistics issues, and other such bottlenecks for candidates.
Lack of transparency and proper communication
Jain seeks proper communication from the counselling authorities on alleged speculations among the candidates. "An important point at this juncture is that the government should communicate if any changes are being implemented," he reiterated.
Dutta is also of a similar opinion. "The exam should be standardised and transparent. A standardised way of conducting the test without bringing new changes every year, like normalisation this year, is very crucial. They should be transparent about the algorithm and the process they follow," Datta said.
Furthermore, Jain said, "There is no information bulletin or prospects on how the counselling will be done." Although, "As per the usual protocol, the counselling is conducted simultaneously by the Centre and states, the main challenge is how states will manage and stick to the schedule as they tend to go beyond the chalked out schedule," he opined.
2023 vs 2024
In 2023, the counselling process began in July and ended in October. This year the process began in September. While the worry about delayed academic sessions has been prevalent in the system for a few years now, 2024's counselling process is leading to further delays.
Speaking on this, Jain said, "Ever since COVID-19 hit the country, there are no fixed schedules for counselling. The schedules are haywire which, in turn, created anxiety among the candidates as there was a lack of proper communication and clarity."
In Krishnamurthy's opinion, "Because of short academic sessions, the medicos are unable to decide what will be the best for them."
Adding more, he highlights, "Many of the medical colleges are not up to the mark and they lack specialised individuals for specialisation training. So, candidates rush to the opt for best colleges to get their PG, in the pursuit of which, they might end up comprising on the course they are interested in."
To combat this, Krishnamurthy suggests that more options should be given to the candidates in place of the current system where one seat in one specialisation is allotted. "The counselling process should give candidates the option to select one of three choices," he proposes.
To conclude, all three experts were of the similar perspective that the counselling authorities need to be more transparent in communicating the counselling process and implementation.
