The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has postponed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET PG) exam, originally set for Sunday, June 23. The announcement came at around 10 PM, less than 12 hours before the students were scheduled to take the exam at 9 AM on Sunday. Students have expressed their disappointment and criticised the decision. A new date for the exam will be announced soon.
“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 the processes of the NEET-PG Entrance Examination, conducted by the National Board of Examination for medical students,” the ministry statement read.
“The NEET-UG exam’s paper got leaked, NEET PG was postponed 12 hours before, and the NEET-SSC exam date has not been announced yet. This shows how much the government is concerned about the health sector. The Union Health Minister and Union Education Minister must apologise for what they have done. Students and doctors have travelled a long way for the exam and come here; they have incurred a lot of expenses. On average, Rs 10,000 was the expenditure. The government must reimburse these expenditures,” a candidate who went to Jaipur for the exam told ANI in a statement.
Jyoth Chouhan, another candidate, said the last-minute notification from the Centre about the exam postponement caused significant inconvenience.
“NTA (National Testing Agency) informed at the last moment, 10 hours before that the exam has been postponed. If they had to reschedule, they should have announced that at least a few days ago. They didn’t distribute exam centres properly, candidates got very faraway places at exam centres. Students from Vadodara had exam centres in Nashik and Madhya Pradesh. And then when they reached there, they were informed that the exam had been postponed. All are having great difficulties,” he said.
Delhi-based Ritu Gulita, who was fully prepared to take the NEET-PG, told ThePrint, “I was about to sleep. I have been preparing for 10 months. I was sitting at home and studying. The government does not care about us. I was feeling a little relieved that tomorrow this exhausting cycle would end, but now I don’t know how long I have to struggle.”
The NEET UG 2024 results have been controversial due to alleged paper leaks. Additionally, the UGC NET was canceled, and the CSIR UGC NET 2024 was postponed on Friday. All these exams were conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). On Saturday night, the Centre removed NTA chief Subodh Kumar Singh and placed him on “compulsory wait.”
The NEET-PG exam has faced multiple date changes. Initially set for March 3, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) postponed it to July 8 in January. Shortly after, the date was moved up to June 23. Now, just a day before the exam, it has been postponed again.
The NEET-PG is the only exam for admission to MD, MS, and PG Diploma courses. Many doctors take time off work to prepare for it, while others study during their long hospital shifts.
