NEET PG aspirants protest at Jantar Mantar, want March exam to be postponed

Candidates request a postponement of the exam by two to three weeks to close the gap between the result announcement and the counselling procedure.

“We have seen 100 people so far (for the protest) and more from across the country are set to join us today,” said Dr Manish Jangra, chief advisor of the Federation of All India Medical Association.

He added that resident doctors association representatives from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) would also join the protest.

“We will conduct our protest peacefully and put forward our demands. We had asked the Delhi Police to permit 200 people but they have only allowed 100. So all the heads of the NEET PG agitation in different cities and states will join us today,” said Dr Rohan Krishnan, national chairman, Federation of All India Medical Association.

The Union Health Ministry on January 13 extended the MBBS internship cut-off date to June 30. Earlier, the cut-off date for aspirants to complete their mandatory one-year internship was March 31. The doctors’ associations have also asked for another revision of this internship cut-off date, claiming many interns would still be ineligible to appear for the NEET PG exam.

Dr Krishnan said that medical students are confused and unable to concentrate on their studies due to major ongoing issues related to the scheduled date for NEET PG-2023.