NEET SS papers Clash! NBE under fire over scheduling blunder

New Delhi: The National Eligibility-Entrance Test Superspeciality (NEET-SS) 2024 exam aspirants are upset with the exam schedule as the test for Respiratory Medicine and Medical Oncology specialties has been scheduled together- for the morning shift on March 29, 2025.

Due to this, the candidates having an MD Medicine degree who are aspiring to get admission to these branches have now no choice but to pick only one subject.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) recently invited applications for the NEET SS 2024 and soon released the Information Bulletin as well.

The Information Bulletin also included the details regarding the date of the NEET SS 2024 examination for different groups and as per the schedule, the exams for the ENT Group, Respiratory Medicine Group, Obstetrics & Gynaecology Group, and Medical Oncology Group will be held during the morning shift (9 AM to 11:30 AM) on 29th March, 2025.

Also Read: Expert Panel Suggested Changes in NEET SS Exam Pattern, says NMC Secretary

Highlighting the issue, RTI Activist Dr. Vivek Pandey called it a "blunder" by NBE and mentioned in an X (formerly Twitter) post, "MD Medicine aspirants are forced to choose between Respiratory Medicine & Medical Oncology in #NEETSS2024 as both exams are scheduled at the same time (March 29,Morning Shift) Why restrict career options due to poor planning."

Commenting on the matter, Dr. Meet Gohnia, the Secretary of the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) told Medical Dialogues, "This should be taken care of by authorities beforehand."

He also pointed out that "Because of the delay in NEET PG counselling for Batch 2021, the last stray round happened in May 2022 and Many Students joined PG courses in May."

"Now, as per the criteria defined by NBEMS, only candidates who are going to complete their PG by 30th April are eligible for NEET SS. So this is gross injustice to those candidates," he said.

Speaking to Medical Dialogues, Health Activist and Chief Patron of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), Dr. Rohan Krishnan said, "This kind of errors should not happen because while fixing the examination, one must understand that MD Medicine is not more super speciality branch. So, people may want to diversify and one can have more than one interest for super specialisations. So, these things need to be checked thoroughly and I think that we need more committees and more people to plan these things."

Commenting on the matter, the National President of United Doctors' Front (UDF), Dr. Lakshya Mittal said, "It is deeply concerning that NEET SS aspirants are being forced to choose between Respiratory Medicine and Medical Oncology, as both exams are scheduled on March 29 in the morning shift. This scheduling conflict denies candidates their rightful opportunity to appear for multiple specialties based on merit and interest. As per the ‘Right to Profession’ under Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution, every individual has the freedom to choose and pursue their profession. Restricting candidates from exercising their choice by overlapping crucial exams is a violation of this fundamental right."

"We strongly urge the authorities to reconsider and reschedule one of these exams to a different date. Aspirants must not be put in a position where they have to compromise on their career choices due to administrative oversight," he added.

Also Read: Is NEET SS a joke? Doctors condemn exam delay, loss of academic year