
A candidate of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2024 has claimed that the seat allotted to him in the first round of All India Quota (AIQ) counselling was withdrawn by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) without any prior explanation.
The candidate alleged that he received an email from the NBEMS on January 13, stating that the Diplomate of National Board (DNB) seat allotted to him in Ruby General Hospital, Kolkata, for General Surgery was withdrawn from the NEET-PG 2024 counselling process.
“Accordingly, your candidature for the allotted seat has been cancelled as the said seat no longer exists. This information has already been communicated to MCC, which has been requested to facilitate your participation in the Third Round of the Counseling which is already in progress,” the email read.
While the email did not specify any reason for withdrawing the seats from the counselling process, candidates claim that the same has been done due to a shortage of faculty members in the hospital’s department.
Speaking to EdexLive, the NEET-PG candidate whose seat was cancelled, said, “I secured a DNB seat in Round 1 of AIQ counselling and took admission accordingly. In Round 2, I was not upgraded, so I reported to the same seat. However, yesterday, without any prior notice, I received an email stating that my seat had been cancelled due to some internal issue, and I no longer have the seat. To my knowledge, the same issue has affected another Postgraduate Trainee (PGT), as there were two General Category seats in the hospital, and both have been cancelled."
The candidate will now participate in the third round of counselling for NEET-PG 2024, the seat matrix for which was released today, January 14, by NBEMS.
Several members of the medical community have taken to social media platforms to criticise the NBEMS for its arbitrary seat cancellations. They have highlighted concerns over transparency and accountability in the NEET-PG counselling process.
“Withdrawal of seats already allocated to eligible candidates through valid counselling cannot be withdrawn in successive rounds citing shortage of facilities. This should have been checked by @NMC_BHARAT and @NbeIndia prior to disclosure of seat matrix,” said one post.
Efforts to obtain an official statement from NBEMS were unsuccessful at the time of publishing. This report will be updated upon receiving a response.