Tharoor Urges Health Minister to Add More NEET PG Exam Centres in Kerala

New Delhi: Highlighting that the aspirants in Kerala, who are appearing in the National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2025 examination, are unable to opt for any exam centres within their State, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has requested the Union Health Minister J P Nadda to immediately intervene to address the issue.

MP Tharoor pointed out that all the available seats in Kerala were exhausted within minutes of the website reopening. Pointing out that the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) was already aware of the number of NEET PG applicants from Kerala, and therefore it was 'unfair' on NBE's part to restrict the number of centres in the State.

If the candidates fail to get allocated to an exam centre within the State, they will have to travel to other States to appear in the PG medical entrance exam.

Taking to X, Tharoor wrote, "Dear @JPNadda, Candidates from Kerala appearing for the NEET-PG 2025 exam are unable to choose any city within the state as their test city, as the available seats were exhausted within minutes of the website reopening. As NBEMS already has data on the number of applicants from Kerala, it is unfair to restrict the number of centres in the state and put the candidates through distress, inconvenience, and financial burden by forcing them to travel to other states for the exam."

Also Read: NEET PG Supreme Court Hearing: With Double Shift Concerns Over, What will be Discussed Next?

Urging the Union Health Minister to intervene and address the problems of these students by increasing the number of exam centres in Kerala, Tharoor further added, "I hope you will intervene immediately to help these candidates by authorising additional centres without delay. Thank you!"

This year, NEET-PG 2025 was initially scheduled to be conducted on June 15 in two shifts. However, the exam was later deferred to August 3, 2025, after the Supreme Court held that conducting the exam in two shifts would lead to arbitrariness. The Apex Court bench had directed NBE to make arrangements to conduct the exam in a single shift.

Also Read: NEET PG 2025 Tentative list of 233 exam cities released, Here's How to select

Recently, after increasing the number of exam cities to hold the exam in a single shift, NBE released the tentative list of exam cities for the NEET PG exam for the academic year 2025.

While earlier there were altogether 179 cities for conducting the NEET PG 2025 exam, the number of exam centres was increased to a total of 233 exam cities after it was announced that the PG medical entrance test would be held in a single shift.

In this regard, NBE released an official notice stating that all the candidates would have to resubmit the exam city option. Therefore, the application window would be live from 13 June 2025, 03:00 PM to 17 June 2025, 11:55 PM. The exam city would be selected by the candidates on a first come first-served basis, NBE had announced.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the NEET PG 2024 aspirants from Kerala had also alleged that they were allotted exam centres in Andhra Pradesh. Last year, the issue was raised to Union Health Minister JP Nadda by Parliament Member Shri John Brittas, who had pointed out that majority of the NEET PG 2024 aspirants from Kerala would have to appear in the exam in Andhra Pradesh, a state far away from Kerala by around 1000 KMs.

Also Read: What a Mess: NEET PG 2024 Candidates take to social media to resenting Exam Center Allocations