NEET PG 2023: TN Aspirants face trouble due to faraway test centres

Chennai: The aspirants of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) examination from Tamil Nadu are facing troubles due to the far away test centres allotted to them for the examination scheduled for March 5, 2023.

Even though the National Board of Examinations (NBE), the body in charge of conducting NEET PG Examination, had earlier promised allotting test centres 'nearest' to Chennai, several aspirants were allotted centres in far away places such as Vijaywada (900 km) in Andhra Pradesh or in Nalgonda (550k) in Telangana, adds TOI.

The NEET PG 2023 examination is scheduled to be held on March 5, 2023 and more than 2 lakh candidates have registered to appear in the test. Even though candidates have moved to the Supreme Court seeking postponement of the exam, the Government authorities have time and again reiterated that the exam cannot be deferred.

While the process of online submission of applications initiated on January 7, several candidates could not start with the process until January 14 because of the Internship Guidelines.

Previously, NBE and National Medical Commission (NMC) had fixed the deadline of MBBS Internship for appearing in NEET PG 2023 as March 31, 2023. Due to this, several thousands of candidates were ineligible to write the exam.

Also Read: NEET PG 2023 Postponement: NMC releases Speaking Order against Representations

After repeated representations from several States and Universities, first the Internship Deadline got extended up to June 30, 2023, and later it was further extended up to August 11, 2023.

As per the latest media report by the Times of India, by the time the NEET PG aspirants belonging from Tamil Nadu were made eligible to appear for the exam, all the testing seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry had been taken.

In case of Tamil Nadu, the testing seats in Chennai got exhausted in the second week of January itself. Following this, the students had urged the authorities for increasing the number of seats in Chennai.

The daily adds that back at that time, NBE had asked the candidates for choosing 'others' as their choice of testing city. It had promised making efforts to add centres in Chennai or allot seats at centres that are close to the city.

While commenting on the troubles faced by the students, a student counsellor told TOI, "Tamil Nadu has the maximum number of medical colleges in the country. This means they will have the maximum number of candidates taking the exam. The agency should have planned it beforehand. Travel from one city to another is not only expensive but also stressful."

If a student needs to travel to Vizag, he must spend around Rs 5000 on flight and another Rs 2000 on boarding and lodging for a day. According to several students, they have been posted to centres not having any direct flights at all.

"It may be cheaper to go by bus or train, but for that, we must leave at least one day before. Most students from my college have been allotted a centre in Vizag. It is not possible for many to take off for two to three days," mentioned a medical resident at a state-run medical college.

Also Read: Supreme Court hearing on NEET PG 2023 postponed, to continue on Monday