MBBS graduates, doctors’ associations continue protests for NEET-PG 2022 postponement

The National Board of Education, which conducts NEET-PG, on Tuesday, released a circular confirming that the test will indeed happen as planned on May 21 and that admit cards would be distributed soon.

The NEET PG 2022 exam is scheduled to take place on May 21, 2022. (Representative Image)

With just nine days to go for the examination, students along with some of the doctors who had protested the delays in previous NEET-PG counselling continue to raise the demand of pushing back NEET-PG 2022 by six to ten weeks. The demand was raised by aspirants of post-graduation after repeated delays in counselling for the previous year resulted in the process continuing till May this year.

The examination has already been pushed once from March 12, 2022, because the date for the examination was clashing with their ongoing counselling process. The National Board of Education, which conducts NEET-PG, on Tuesday, released a circular confirming that the test will indeed happen as planned on May 21 and that admit cards would be distributed soon.

Read | Explained: Why some doctors want NEET-PG for 2022 delayed

The NEET-PG exam, which usually takes place in January each year, was conducted in September last year due to the pandemic. The counselling process was further delayed because of a series of cases in the Supreme Court mainly relating to the newly introduced EWS quota. Once it started in January 2022, the counselling process was further delayed due to a series of litigations and procedural lapses, such as some seats being allocated offline, which were still reflected as vacant for the next round of counselling online and consequently allotted to two persons.

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Since nearly three-fourths of the applicants for the examination usually attempt it more than once, with just around 42,000 PG medicine seats in India, the delay in NEET-PG 2021 counselling has resulted in no gap to study for NEET-PG 2022 the MBBS graduates said.

“There have already been a lot of delays and a few more weeks wouldn’t hurt anyone more,” said Dr Rohan Krishnan, president of the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA), which was also one of the organisations that participated in the strike in November-December last year demanding that NEET-PG 2021 counselling be expedited. In a tweet, he said, “Requesting @NMC_IND @MoHFW_INDIA to understand that only 1 batch cannot bring back normal routine post covid. Do NEET PG 22 in July & NEET 23 in march 23 @ slowly bring normalcy. One batch cannot be made to suffer the wrath of Pandemic.”

Also Read | NEET PG 2022: SC agrees to hear postponement plea on May 13

He said that the health ministry can still overrule the NBE and he hopes that it happens. Several others who participated in the December-strike, however, are not in favour of delays as it will again leave them without one batch of post-graduate students to work in medical college hospitals. The PG students, as part of their training, work as junior residents in these hospitals.

Anonna Dutt

Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More

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