Explained: Why are some doctors asking for NEET-PG to be delayed?

The Indian Medical Association has written to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to delay the NEET-PG exam for the year 2022, which is scheduled for 21 May. The IMA’s letter has come in the wake of several students asking the exams to be deferred by six to ten weeks.The examination was already deferred once from 12 March to the current date.“As a result of the delayed counselling schedule, NEET PG 2022 was deferred … so that the candidates could appear for the stray vacancy round of NEET-PG 2021 and can still have plenty of time for preparation and re-appearance for the next NEET-PG 2022 exam if they fail to secure a seat this year… The difference between NEET PG 2022 exam date and completion of 2021 counselling is too short for the aspirant to prepare and appear for an extremely difficult exam like NEET-PG,” IMA said in their letter. Why are some doctors asking for a delayed NEET-PG exam?As per the rules, after completing their year-long mandatory internship, MBBS graduates have to appear for NEET-PG to qualify for post-graduation seats. According to The Indian Express, the number of students appearing for the exam each year is nearly three to four times of the 42,000 seats available across the country, which leads many of them to making multiple attempts to get through.Due to the COVID pandemic and requests to defer it, the NEET-PG 2021 was severely delayed. The counselling for the last session started only in January this year.The process involving the exam, counselling and allotment of seats, which should have been over in a matter of a few months, is still ongoing because of litigations and delays due to procedural confusion in some cases when a seat was allotted to two persons.While the counselling process for the previous year is yet to wrap up, the next year’s examination is only nine days away. Students have argued that they weren’t able to get a study break between the counselling process for 2021 and examination for 2022.“In fact, the date for the 2022 examination is clashing with the dates for counselling for College of Physicians and Surgeons of Mumbai. It might also clash for some students from Rajasthan. Plus, since the process has been delayed for long and the resident doctors are already overworked, another two weeks should not make a difference,” claimed Dr Rohan Kishnan, president of the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA), as quoted by The Indian Express.The opposing voicesEven as a majority is demanding the exam to be delayed, there are some who have voiced concern against doing so.According to The Indian Express, a large section of the resident doctors who participated in the protest last year feel that any delay will keep pushing back the academic calendar further. With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.