Kerala Doctors seeking change in NEET PG exam centres to move HC against NBE

Thiruvananthapuram: Amidst the continuous protests of doctors against holding the NEET PG 2022 entrance test on May 21, 2022, the doctors in Kerala are now planning to move the High Court against the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBE) for allotting examination centres to the candidates far away from their home towns and across various states.

The confirmation regarding this came from a release by the Kerala based General Practitioners Association (GPA) which has also written to the State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Health minister Veena George and NBEMS urging the authorities to allow the candidates change their exam centres to allot them centres near their hometowns.

Announcing their plans of approaching the High Court, the association mentioned in a release on Facebook, "It has come to the notice of *General Practitioners Association* that many candidates from Kerala were allotted examination centres for NEET PG 2022, far away from their home town and across different states. GPA had already sent emails to higher authorities of NBEMS , Ministry of health, Chief minister of kerala, certain members of parliament and other higher officials. In order to take a legal stand on this issue GPA is planning to file a *Writ petition in Kerala High Court* against NBEMS, for which we require datas of students who were given far off centre options. *Those candidates who are allotted examination centres across other states kindly submit your details for supporting writ petition.*"

Meanwhile, the association has already reached out to concerned authorities including the State Chief, the Health Minister and the NBEMS urging them to provide relief to the candidates who have been allotted seats far away from their hometowns.

Also Read: KGMU suspends 42 MBBS medicos for hiring juniors as proxies so they can study for NEET PG

Referring to the fact that the exam is just 5 days ahead, the association pointed out in the letter how the issue of exam centres bothers students every year and stated, "This email is in reference to the NEET — PG 2022 examination to be conducted on May 21st 2022 Saturday, which is just 5 days ahead making the situation crucial. Candidates from Kerala are allotted examination centres far away from their home town. Every year this same irrational situation comes up that the examination centres in each district gets filled very fast within hours of notification of the online application due to insufficient number of centres in each district, hence lots of candidates are unable to choose their desired district."

"It was earlier told that the candidates who are not able to pick examination centres of their desired choice will be allocated a centre near to their home town by choosing the option "others" but on the contrary many of the candidates are provided examination centres in other states like Andhra Pradesh and Telengana etc, even after choosing the option "others", which will add to their difficulties," it further mentioned.

"In these difficult times it's inconvenient for the candidates to book train/flight tickets, travel to a distant place few days before and having to stay there will add to their financial difficulties. Candidates are forced to face all these struggles unnecessarily every year and that too just one week before the exam because the admit cards being issued hardly one week before the stipulated exam date every year. And many of the candidates are engaged in active clinical practice and it would be difficult for them to obtain a long duration of leave on such short notice," the letter stated.

Therefore seeking a relief for the Kerala based NEET PG candidates, the association urged in its letters to the authorities, "It would be very helpful if the candidates who opted "others" for examination centre while submitting the online application are allowed to change their centre or allowed a centre near to their home town."

The confusion regarding the NEET PG 2022, the centralized entrance test for postgraduate medical entrance test is proving to be never ending. The doctors have been vocal about the schedule of the examination, which is almost clashing with the NEET PG 2021 counselling dates. Even though the doctors approached several authorities including the Prime Minister and approached the Supreme Court seeking a postponement, nothing positive has happened yet. In fact the top court dismissed the plea seeking postponement while observing that the deferment will cause hardships to the thousands of those MBBS doctors who have been preparing for the exam.

Also Read: NO Postponement of NEET PG 2022: Supreme Court