NEET-PG 2022 exam schedule coincides with the 2021 counseling procedure, causing a protest among hopefuls

Because of the coronavirus epidemic and court hearings over the OBC and EWS quota dispute, NEET-PG 2021 counseling has been postponed and will end on March 16. Registrations will be accessible until February 4 and the exam will be held on March 12, according to the NEET PG 2022 schedule, which was recently issued.

In addition, the introduction of Other Backward Class (OBC) and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quotas in all Indian seats is said to have reduced the number of seats available for unreserved category students, and thousands of interns who will not be able to complete their internship before May 2022 will be ineligible to sit for this year's exam.

One such candidate, who finished her MBBS degree in May last year and applied for the NEET PG 2021 after completing the necessary internship, is now concerned about whether she will be able to sit for the exam this year. In the unreserved category, she was placed below 4000.

"The OBC and EWS quotas have been introduced from this year onwards, which has reduced the number of seats by 37 percent. Until last year, under-4000 rank would guarantee a seat in the desired college but now the chances are bleak. I am unable to decide whether I should sit for all rounds of 2021 counseling or appear for the 2022 exam," the 24-year old, who did not wish to be named, said.

"If I accept an allotted seat this year in an undesired college and score well in PG 2022 exam, I will not be able to withdraw the deposited fee of around Rs 25,000 and will end up losing a considerable sum of money," she added.

More than 8,000 medical interns' careers are on the line because they are not eligible to sit for the exam this year, according to Dr. Chinmayee Gowda, a NEET-PG 2021 qualifier and the women wing in charge of the Federation of All India Medical Association.

"The eligibility criterion for NEET-PG 2022 requires the applicants to complete 10 months of the mandatory internship by May 2021, but thousands of interns across the country could not start their internships amid the pandemic as the final exams were delayed. Either the exam should be postponed by a few months or the eligibility must be relaxed," Dr Gowda told.

Several organizations have written to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) requesting that the PG entrance exam be postponed.

"As per the survey carried out across India to gather information about the completion date of the internship, there are 8032 interns' of 10 states of India, including interns of North Gujarat University who will not be eligible as per this for NEET PG 2022 as their internship will complete after June 30, 2022," Gujarat Intern Doctors' Association wrote in its letter to the National Medical Commission (NMC) on January 12.

Md Arif Waquar began his internship late due to covid and is one of the ineligible interns. "My internship will get over in late October 2022, making me ineligible for NEET-PG 2022. It is really demotivating to not appear for an exam due to the sheer in consideration of the authorities. From 2023 onwards, the PG entrance exam will transform into the National Exit Test (NEXT) with a different pattern which has not been released yet, which further adds to my anxiety," said the 23-year from Bihar, pursuing MBBS from the Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College in Bhagalpur.

The Indian Medical Association Junior Doctors Network (IMA-JDN)—Maharashtra Chapter—said in a statement a six-month gap between two batches to "ensure efficient resident doctors". "NEET-PG is being conducted in March 2022 to increase the workforce for covid but with no even six months gap in the admissions from two different exams, it will lead to chaos and improper functioning of the colleges and hospitals," said IMA-JDN in the January 16 statement.

Dr. Indranil Deshmukh, the state convener of IMA-JDN, told that the exams must be postponed to "protect the mental health of the junior doctors as they have been tirelessly involved in the covid duty".