Health Ministry says no to NEET PG 2022 postponement: Report
New Delhi: Amid the growing demands for postponing the postgraduate medical entrance examination, the Union Health Ministry has reportedly confirmed that NEET-PG 2022 shall be conducted on the schedule date i.e. May 21, 2022.
The confirmation regarding this came from the sources in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) Department, who informed Careers360 that the date for the exam shall not get changed. This was decided in a Ministry meeting held in the presence of the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on April 30.
Meanwhile, the doctors are not ready for such an answer for the Ministry and taking their demands to a higher level, the doctors under the umbrella of All India Medical Students' Association (AIMSA) has approached the Supreme Court and filed a petition seeking deferment of the exam.
An advocate in the Supreme Court of India, Sandeep Tiwari confirmed this in a Tweet where he mentioned, "On behalf of All India Medical Students Association (AIMSA) we have moved Supreme Court of India against scheduled examination of NEET -PG 2022 dated 21st May, 2022. . The aspirants raised own grievances due to mismatch / clashing of dates in ongoing counselling for NEET-PG 2021."
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that referring to the insufficient gap between the NEET PG 2021 counselling and the NEET PG 2022 date, the aspirants for the PG medical entrance test had recently written to the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind and sought deferment of the examination by at least two months.
Also Read: NEET PG 2022 postponement demand escalates
NEET PG 2022, which is the centralized common entrance test for admission to PG medical courses across India, was earlier scheduled on March 12. However, pointing out that the date was clashing with NEET PG counselling 2021 dates, the doctors had approached the Union Health Ministry seeking postponement. In fact they had moved to the Apex Court as well.
Before the top court could take a call on the matter, the Union Health Ministry itself came to the aid of the students and postponed the exam by 6-8 months. Consequently, NBE rescheduled the exam on May 21. However, the doctors are not so happy with this date as well and they have cited the ongoing counselling for NEET PG 2021 as the reason.
Pointing out the rigid stand of the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the National Board of Examinations (NBE) in this issue, the aspirants had also threatened to surrender their medical degrees to the Government at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan if the exam, which is scheduled on May 21, does not get postponed.
The aspirants under the umbrella of All India Medical Students' Association had also written to the Union Health Ministry recently and pointed out the short time gap between the NEET PG 2021 counseling and the NEET PG 2022 date, and also the troubles of the interns who are ineligible to appear in the NEET PG 2022 and NEET MDS 2022.
Recently, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has also come forward in support of the students as the association pointed out how NEET PG 2021 exam was postponed time and again and its counseling process also got delayed continuously.
"To add to the stress of NEET PG 2021 aspirants, MCC announced on 30 April 2022 that the Provisional Stray Vacancy Round of NEET PG Counselling (the results of which had been previously announced on 29 April, 2022) was made 'NULL & VOID', and the final result of the stray vacancy will be released on May 2, 2022. As soon as this is completed, State Governments can conduct a Mop-Up Round. Several States have already released dates for the same. most of which revolve around the middle of May 2022," FAIMA pointed out in the letter directed to the Union Health Minister and mentioned that the NEET-PG 2021 aspirants would not get enough time to prepare for appearing in the NEET-PG 2022 exam.
Until now AIMSA was contemplating about taking this matter before the Supreme Court and they have finally filed the petition seeking deferment of the exam. They pointed out that the dates for NEET-PG 2021 counselling was clashing with NEET-PG 2022 exam.
Similar demands for postponement have been raised by the United Doctors Front Association (UDFA) as well. The association has confirmed in a Tweet that its members including the President, Chairman are constantly in touch with the Union Health Ministry for immediately postponing NEET PG 2022.
Although the demands for postponing the exam are growing louder every minute, the Union Health Ministry is not ready to fulfil such demands. As per the latest media report by Careers360, the sources in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) have confirmed that the NEET-PG 2022 exam shall be conducted as per the schedule on May 21, 2022.
So, now the only hope for the candidates is the intervention by the Supreme Court, which might take a call in the matter and help the distressed candidates.
Also Read: NEET PG, MDS Aspirants seek deferment of exams, write to Health Ministry
