MBBS doctors decry two-shift format for NEET PG 2025

Delhi: The MBBS doctors have raised concerns over the conduct of the NEET PG examination, emphasizing the need for either a proper normalization process or conducting the exam in a single shift to ensure fairness.

All India MBBS Doctors Association (AIMDA) President Dr. Vinod Sharma Bagra criticized the two-shift exam format, calling it a flawed decision that has led to confusion among students and legal disputes over answer keys and evaluation methods. He pointed out that the delay in releasing answer keys due to multiple court petitions has, in turn, postponed the counselling process, affecting the academic calendar.

“By conducting NEET PG 2025 in 2 shifts, lakhs of students will suffer. The rank of thousands of students changes with the change of 1 number, you all must have seen this in the last NEET PG exam in 2024, thousands of students went to court for normalization, due to which the counseling of NEET PG was stuck in the court for a long time, due to which the career of lakhs of students was ruined and lakhs of students remained mentally disturbed. This shows the poor management of NBE,” stated the doctor.

“When the NEET UG exam can be conducted in one shift in which lakhs of students sit for the exam, then why can't the NEET PG exam be conducted in one shift? INSET AIIMS exam is also conducted in one shift which is conducted 2 times a year, in which lakhs of NEET PG students sit, so why can NBE and NMC conduct NEET PG exam in one shift?” the association questioned.

Dr. Bagra suggested that the NEET UG and PG exam schedules should be announced well in advance, including counselling timelines, to prevent unnecessary delays in the admission process and ensure a timely start of the academic session. “I suggest the NEET exam date for UG and PG should be announced along with the complete schedule in advance so that it will enable the counselling process to be conducted at the correct time and the academic session can begin on time. The ‘One Nation, One Counselling Body’ concept can be implemented for the timely completion of the counselling process.” he added.

He also brought attention to the Rajasthan NEET PG counselling process, where 140 seats were allocated without proper updates in the seat matrix for Round 3. AIMDA has filed a petition in the High Court, which has now directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to provide clarification on the matter. Another major issue highlighted by AIMDA was the steep rise in medical education fees over the years. Dr. Bagra recalled that when he took admission in 2016, the fee was Rs 2,400, whereas it has now surged to Rs 50,000–Rs 60,000, making medical education increasingly expensive for students.

He also addressed the growing issue of unemployment among doctors, stating that while the government has announced an increase of 75,000 medical seats in Rajasthan, there is a lack of job opportunities for those who have already completed their degrees. AIMDA has urged the government to not only focus on increasing medical seats but also to create employment opportunities for young doctors entering the profession.