Ensure fairness in NEET PG 2025, conduct exam in Single-Shift: Doctors move Health Minister
NEET PG 2025
New Delhi: Highlighting the defining nature of the National Eligibility-Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET-PG) exam, the doctors have urged the Union Health Minister to intervene and ensure that the upcoming PG medical entrance test is conducted in a single shift, as was the established norm since 2017.
In its letter directed to the Union Health Minister, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) pointed out that the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare itself discontinued the multiple-shift pattern in 2017, in the interest of fairness, transparency and uniformity.
Referring to this, the association mentioned in the letter, "The rationale was clear: conducting such a crucial national-level examination in a single shift ensures that all candidates receive the same question paper, thereby creating an equitable platform for every aspiring doctor in India."
FAIMA pointed out that, contradictarily, conducting the exam in multiple shifts introduces variability in difficulty levels and subject-wise question distribution.
"This inevitably leads to the use of normalization methods, which have consistently raised concerns among aspirants regarding their reliability and fairness. The variation in question types and difficulty between shifts has been observed and reported in previous years, leading to anxiety, dissatisfaction, and, at times, legal challenges—all of which could delay the admission process," the association pointed out.
Also Read: NEET PG 2024 Transparency Case Hearing listed for tomorrow
Mentioning how a single-shift exam would preserve the credibility of the results and enhances trust in the system, the association added, "Given that NEET PG is a defining examination that determines the future of lakhs of young doctors, it is imperative to conduct it in the most transparent and uniform manner possible. A single-shift examination preserves the credibility of the results, enhances trust in the system, and safeguards the careers of thousands of hardworking medical graduates."
Accordingly, the association urged the Ministry to direct the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to uphold the practice of conducting NEET PG exam in a single shift to ensure uniformity, fairness and transparency in the exam.
Recently, the Indian Medical Association Junior Doctors' Network also sought the Union Health Minister's intervention in this regard. Medical Dialogues reported that doctors across the country were upset over the conduct of the upcoming NEET PG 2025 exam after the NBEMS announced that it would be held in two shifts on June 15, 2025. While the first shift is scheduled from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM, the second shift is scheduled from 3:30 PM to 7:00 PM.
The doctors expressed their concerns primarily over the normalization process. Even though the normalization formula was introduced for NEET PG 2024 to adjust the scores across different exam shifts to ensure fairness, critics have argued that the process is flawed.
A few candidates who appeared in the second shift of the NEET PG 2024 exam had questioned the normalization formula adopted by NBEMS and further claimed that the board had scammed them in the name of a competitive exam. They pointed out that the Shift 2 paper was tougher compared to Shift 1 and further termed the process of calculating scores as debatable. These concerns were also raised before the Supreme Court, where the aspirants prayed for transparency in the NEET PG 2024 exam.
Recently, a poll conducted by Shiksha.com revealed that when asked about their opinions on the two-shift NEET PG 2025 examination, 89% of the of the respondents in the poll opposed the idea. While 89% of respondents said "No" to the NEET PG exam in two shifts, 9% respondents supported the idea and the remaining 2% were undecided.
Despite the protests and demands from the aspirants to hold the upcoming PG entrance test in a single shift, NBEMS has not yet announced any changes in its plans of holding the exam in double shifts.
Meanwhile, the plea alleging lack of transparency in NEET PG 2024 exam is still pending before the Supreme Court, which is likely to take up the matter on April 22, 2025.
Also Read: NEET PG 2025: Subject-wise disparity in double shift exam sparks controversy
