The Union Health Ministry on February 4, Friday, said that it has postponed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-PG 2022 exam by 6-8 weeks. The exam was earlier scheduled to be held on March 12, with the results expected to be declared by March 31. Six MBBS students had filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking postponement of the exam, in order to accommodate candidates who may not be able to appear for the exam as they are yet to complete the mandatory internship period.
The medicos had also sought postponement of the exam as it overlapped with the ongoing counselling schedule for NEET PG 2021. The plea had said that postponing the exam would allow candidates who are appearing for the much-delayed NEET PG 2021 counselling to be able to appear for NEET PG 2022, depending on the seat allocation under NEET PG 2021. Challenging the requirement of the completion of internships by May 31, 2022, the petitioners had also sought an extension of the deadline. They said that many MBBS graduates who had their internships paused due to COVID-19 duties would become ineligible to appear in NEET PG 2022 under these conditions.
According to Bar&Bench, the plea had also sought clarification on how candidates selected through NEET PG 2021 and NEET PG 2022 would be accommodated in hospitals together. "It is most humbly submitted that many candidates appearing in the counselling for NEET-PG 2021 are yet waiting for seat allocation and that due to the clash in the dates of counselling and the date of NEET-PG 2022 examination, they will not be in a position to appear in the examination, even if they wish to," the plea had said, according to Bar&Bench.
In view of the various concerns raised by MBBS graduates, the National Board of Examinations, which is in-charge of conducting the NEET PG exam, was instructed to postpone it by 6-8 weeks.