Hyderabad: The Union health ministry has once again decided to postpone the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for postgraduate medical seats — this time indefinitely — just a night before the exam has put aspirants and their families in severe distress.
The exam, which is conducted by the National Board of Education (NBE), was initially scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 23. However, it was postponed until further notice, as per an official notification released by the Union health ministry on Saturday night.
This is the fourth time that the NEET PG was postponed and the decision comes in the midst of allegations of paper leak in the NEET UG exam.
“Initially, the exam was to be held on March 3. It was changed to July 7 but it was again rescheduled to June 23. Constant preparation for the exam is putting our minds under tremendous pressure,” said Pupparu Mansi, an aspirant from Hyderabad.
Many students, who got their exam centres at far off places, have suffered with the abrupt postponement.
Mansi was allotted an exam centre in Warangal. However, after she reached Warangal on Saturday night, she received the information about the postponement.
“My parents were already worried and now their worries have compounded. The next date has also not been announced yet. Careers of about three lakh aspirants are at stake. Many aspirants who got their centres away from their hometowns could barely arrange for their accommodation,” she said.
S. Pushpraj Kumar, who finished his MBBS from Kakatiya Medical College at Warangal, said aspirants of the PG medical courses have been preparing for the last two years while working as doctors. However, their dreams have shattered.
“The robustness of the exam process should have been checked in advance. There must be at least 48 hours of time between announcement of postponement and the exam,” he said, adding that the government must issue an exam calendar well in advance.
