Why are doctors unhappy with NEET PG cut-off date of March 31?

NEET-PG is likely to be discontinued from next year, with the government implementing a new, two-part exit test for all MBBS students, which will be a basis for their registration as doctors and admissions for further PG courses.

The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) tweeted, “More than 50% of interns ineligible, their careers at stake. (Many) states altogether aren’t eligible. Will lead to demands of postponement and last minute chaos. Urgent resolution needed.”

NEETPG bulletin drops bombshell: internship completion date set for March,31 ‘23. >50% of interns ineligible, their career at stake. States altogether are’nt eligible. Will lead to demands of postponement and last minute chaos. Urgent resolution needed. @MoHFW_INDIA @DghsIndia pic.twitter.com/v0GNU7OaXs

— FORDA INDIA (@FordaIndia) January 7, 2023

Dr Rohan Krishnan, national chairperson of Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), said, “This is actually a chronic problem, which has been worsened by the pandemic. There were some states that always delayed declaring the results for MBBS finals, leading to delays in students joining the mandatory internships, and delays in completing it. However, because of the pandemic, there have been more academic delays over the last two years.”

The current cut-off date, he said, will make “most of the 2017 batch ineligible to sit for the PG exams this year”. He said the cut-off should be increased to May.

The cut-off date for the one-year mandatory internship for MBBS students before appearing for PG entrance test was extended to July 31 last year on directions of the Supreme Court. Last year, internship was also delayed for some students due to Covid-19 duty during the second wave.

The NEET PG schedule has been severely affected over the last two years, leading to a shortage of PG students in medical college hospitals who work as junior resident doctors as part of their training. Resident doctors from FORDA and FAIMA had taken to the streets in December 2021, asking the government to expedite counselling, which was in abeyance for several months due to a series of court cases on the new quota for the economically weaker sections.

Counselling for 2021 started in February 2022 and the exams for 2022 PG batch were conducted days after counselling for the previous year got over. Although the result was announced within 10 days, it was a few months before the counselling started due to some procedural delays.