In yet another blow to medical students of the country, the Ministry of Health today postponed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test postgraduate (NEET PG) 2024, which is conducted by the National Board of Examination (NBE).
This postponement comes at a time when the country’s eyes are already on the ongoing NEET UG exam which has been marred with allegations of paper leaks and other discrepancies.
“Taking into consideration, the recent incidents of allegations regarding the integrity of certain competitive examinations, the Ministry of Health has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of processes of the NEET-PG examination, conducted by National Board of Examination for medical students. It has accordingly been decided, as a precautionary measure to postpone the NEET-PG Entrance Examination, scheduled to be held tomorrow i.e. 23rd June, 2024. Fresh date of this examination will be notified at the earliest,” the Ministry said in an official notice.
The decision is being heavily criticised by NEET PG candidates, many of whom had to travel to other cities to appear for the exam. “I travelled from Delhi to Meerut to sit for this exam and was revising chapters at the hotel. There is no reason to cancel this exam, and it should have been conducted on time. Some of the aspirants had to resume their medical jobs, or join a new one, or even go for a vacation with their family. The NBE failed us,” said Dr Pesheen Ahamd, a NEET PG 2024 candidate.
There are also a few candidates who had to put aside their family emergencies to appear for the exam, and now feel abandoned by the NBE. “I work in UPPMS and my father was admitted for surgery. I had left for Lucknow to appear in the exams. All of us UPPSC officers are overworked and didn’t get time to prepare for exam, but I still managed to get some time to sit for this test. Unfortunately, such things cost us a lot of resources and human hours. We are government officers on 24×7 duties, so managing all this is very difficult,” a NEET PG candidate said on the condition of anonymity.
Not just students, but faculty and the medical fraternity are shocked by the news too. Calling it a ‘ harassment of all the doctors’, Dr Suvrankar Datta, Vice President RDA AIIMS questioned the government’s decision of postponing the exam a night before the exam. “How can the government be so incompetent in managing an exam that was planned months in advance? This is beyond frustrating and unacceptable. The ministry owes us a detailed explanation and immediate rescheduling,” he told The Indian Express.
The Federation Of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has questioned repeated changes in the exam schedule. NEET PG 2024 was first announced for March 3, and was then postponed to July 7 in January 2024. However, in March, NBE announced that the exam would be preponed to June 23, which has once again been postponed.
“The government is incapable of conducting an exam planned so many months ago. Many students wanted to join a job after the exam to survive through this phase, but now they are stuck. It is very sad to hear this. We suspect some irregularities may have happened,” said Dr Manish Jangra, founder of FAIMA.
