NEET-PG Aspirant Expresses Anguish Over Last-Minute Exam Postponement Amidst Medical System Concerns

At 10 pm, June 22, the aspirants of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Postgraduate (NEET-PG), received the shocking news that the exam had been postponed, hardly 12 hours before it was scheduled to be held on June 23.

Releasing an official statement, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), said, “This decision has been taken in the best interests of the students and to maintain the sanctity of the examination process.”

This last-minute cancellation of the exam caused a wave of anger among the aspirants, many of whom had traveled hundreds of kilometers to their test centers just for the exam.

Dr Samyak Bansal, a NEET-PG aspirant from Rajasthan, was in Jaipur, almost 120 km away from his home in Tonk district, when he received the news of the NEET-PG postponement,

“I was staying in a hotel, along with my parents, the night before the exam. We had already paid for the accommodation, and also the travel expenses. Many of my friends had even traveled up to 500 km for the exam. The least they could have done for the students is to inform them at least 48 hours before the examination,” Bansal shared with EdexLive.

This year, the NEET-PG exam for which over two lakh students had applied, has already gone through a series of rescheduling, confusing the aspirants.

“This exam is usually conducted in January every year. This time, it was earlier said that the exam would be conducted on July 7. Then, it was prepared to June 23 with no explanation. Now, 10 hours before the exam they postponed the exam again. We have no idea when it will be conducted again,” said Bansal.

“The country has such a big education and medical system, but there is a huge imbalance underneath. It is hard to understand what is going to happen to the medical system in the future, it is collapsing,” he added.

The Center postponed the postgraduate medical entrance exam amid rising controversy regarding alleged paper leak and exam irregularities in the NEET-UG exam held on May 5.

“If you look at the NEET-UG exam, there has been a huge scam, it has been accepted that the paper was leaked, culprits were arrested, but the exam is yet to be canceled. Now if they have canceled NEET-PG, does it mean the exam was also compromised somehow? How are we supposed to trust the system again?” he expressed.

Aspirants shared that the recent developments regarding NEET-UG and NEET-PG exams have led them to mental anguish.

“The aspirants, who have already invested 5-6 years of their lives in MBBS course, and then another year for NEET-PG preparation, still have no clue what their future holds. If the exam is delayed, the result and counseling process will also be delayed. A valuable year of the students is getting wasted because of these people,” Bansal added.

As per the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), a fresh date for the NEET-PG 2024 exam is likely to be announced by next week.