Why not NEET MDS? Students Demand Deferment following NEET PG revised schedule

Taking to Twitter several students have pointed out the difficulties that the aspirants will face if the exam is conducted on the scheduled date i.e. March 6, 2022. They have also questioned when NEET PG got postponed why the same relief cannot be provided to the MDS aspirants.

For the last few weeks similar demands were being expressed by the NEET PG aspirants who had pointed out that conducting the exam in March would result in a clash with the ongoing NEET PG 2021 examination and thousands of aspirants would not be able to appear in the examination for their pending MBBS internship. In fact, few students had approached the Supreme Court as well seeking deferment of the examination and extension of the internship deadline.

However, on Friday, before the top court could decide anything regarding the matter, the Union Health Ministry came to the aid of the students and Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that by the interference of the Ministry, the NEET PG 2022 examination got postponed and rescheduled on May 21.

Also Read: NEET PG 2022 to be held on 21st May, Check out full NBE schedule

NEET MDS aspirants are now expecting similar relief and they are asking if NEET PG got postponed, "why not NEET MDS"?

Calling it a discrimination against the MDS aspirants, another user wrote on Twitter, "After the postponement of NEET PG 2022, NEET MDS students have the right to demand a deferment based on same lines. Why do students have to fight for their right to education? Why this discrimination? MDS aspirants feel neglected."

Supporting the demands of the students, All India Dental Student Association has mentioned in a Tweet, "There is no freedom without struggle We the dental graduates pledge to bring a wave of transformation of equality & justice for our future generations. it's is now or never."

Meanwhile, the demands of the students have been supported by United Doctors Front Assn as well. Writing to the President of the Dental Council of India, the association mentioned in the letter, "Last year NEET MDS took place in Dec 2020. Due to this MDS aspirants were made to sit at home for an entire year as counseling of MDS course had to be conducted. MDS Aspirants joined their college in Nov 2021 after Diwali and so an entire year was wasted."

"Although MDS Curriculum is completely depends on clinical and surgical exposure. If the exam is conducted on scheduled time then how will colleges accommodate 2 batches as already 1^st yr MDS PG's batch who joined academic session w.e.f. Nov 2021. It will hamper the learning ability of clinical and surgical work of MDS students," further added the letter.

Pointing out that earlier the exam was scheduled on June 4 and it got rescheduled to March 6, the letter further mentioned, "As you already know due to covid pandemic, current intern batch (2016), started internship very late, due to delaying of their final year BDS university exams in most of the states, Now they are ineligible to appear n NEET MDS as criteria mentioned by NBE Published in brochure for NEET MDS 2022. Which is 31/03/2022 for academic year NEET MDS 2022 that is making 2500 interns ineligible."

"Meanwhile due to covid pandemic in 2021, the late commencement of internship the last date was extended till 31^st July 2021 in many states for NEET MDS admissions. The criteria this academic year is decided till 31^st of March 2022. So most of the students will not be able to appear in the exam, which includes 2500 interns from various states," read the letter.

"Whole medical fraternity know, it is not the student's fault that their internship started late due to the pandemic," the association pointed out and requested DCI, "Therefore we request you to look into this matter and defer NEET MDS exam for 3-4 month and provide a fair chance to NEET MDS aspirants to appear in NEET MDS 2022."

Speaking to Medical Dialogues regarding the matter, Dr. Deepankar Chaudhary, the President of United Doctors Front Assn said, "Around 16,000 students will appear in the NEET MDS examination and among them around 2500 interns will suffer if the exam is not postponed. If you compare the scenario with NEET PG then the percentage of affected interns might be lesser than NEET MDS candidates. So, similar relief should be provided to the NEET MDS candidates as well. Otherwise, several thousand students will have to face the loss of time in their academic career."

"We have approached everyone including the Union Health Ministry, HRD Ministry, the Education Minister, NBE and DCI, and the authorities have assured us to look into the matter," he added.