NEET-PG 2022 Postponed: Why It Happens and What Will Be The Consequences
Recently, the Union Health Ministry took a decision that is expected to affect thousands of candidates preparing for their NEET exams. As per the latest report, the Union Health Ministry has decided to postpone the NEET PG exams by around six to eight weeks. However, the government has made such a decision based on the plea filed by many candidates in the Supreme Court. Some students have demanded that the exam be postponed.
For now, it can be said that the NEET PG 2022 exams will not be held on March 12. But the things that have created many worries are the government has not announced exact dates yet. On the other hand, some candidates also have requested to extend the deadline for the internship due to their ongoing COVID duty.
Why is NEET PG 2022 Exam Postponed?
The NEET PG 2022 exam has been postponed after demands from medical candidates. What were their demands? They were demanding to extend their internship deadline and postpone the exam. As most of the students are busy with their COVID duty, they may not be able to appear for NEET PG 2022 exam. As per a report, the deadline for the NEET PG internship competition is 31st May.
The FAIMA- Federation Of All India Medical Association has also conducted an online poll for this. And more than 85 percent of MBBS students voted for postponing the exam. More than 1.5 lakh students will take this exam.
What Are The Experts Saying?
As per Dr.Chinmayee Gowda, there should be a decent amount of gap between examination and counseling sessions.
But the counseling process for all India NEET PG exams will be completed by 3rd May. After that, the state counseling will begin, and this may get over by 31st May. While all the staff and students will remain busy with this process, they may not get sufficient time to prepare for the exam that was earlier scheduled to be held on 21st May. Most students have started this as very unfair. While the new session generally starts in August, if the exam is held in July, it may not affect the academic session of 2022.
Why Are Some Doctors Protesting It?
MBBS students need to take the NEET PG example if they want to specialize in different subjects, for instance, gynecology, general medicine, or surgery, after completing an MBBS degree. In general, the exam takes place during the month of January. But the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has delayed it.
As discussed above, the counseling process begins after the exam, allowing students who have cleared the exam to choose their college and stream. But this process was also delayed due to some pending cases in Supreme Court related to the reservation quota for EWS- Economically Weaker Sections.
Due to a delay in both NEET PG counseling and exam, medical students will not be able to start their academic courses. And as per the experts, this can lead to around one-third shortage of doctors around the country.
The reason behind this is while the senior MBBS students were moving on to begin their professional careers, the fresh batch of MBBS students was still unable to begin the course. So, it can create issues.
It Can Affect The Healthcare System
As per some studies, the delay in NEET PG 2022 exam can create a shortage of around 40000 to 450000 resident doctors at such a time when the country’s healthcare system is dealing with a serious situation. So, the delay in the exams is set to severely affect India’s healthcare systems, leading to a doctor-shortage situation.
Besides, a little delay can leave the students undecided between the choice of specialization or other alternatives. The delay can also make more doctors put their professional careers on hold.
Some Challenges That Can Arise Due To The Delay In Examinations
After the delays starting in 2021, the timeline of different processes as well as examinations has been affected severely. As per the experts, the authority only has been informed that there will be a delay of around 6 to 8 weeks. The most confusing thing is they have not announced a particular date for the examinations.
In fact, students also faced some delays last year, and that led to a major manpower crisis. And now the recent may also create some issues. The experts also have said that another batch of students will finish their PG courses in April or May, and that will lead to around a 30 to 35 percent shortage of manpower if the authority delays the examinations.
It may be noted that India has more than 38000 PG seats for around 78,000 MBBS students. Besides, the industry has 50 percent seats under the All India quota. And there are 50 percent state quota seats, around 19,000 MS or MD seats.