Grave injustice to NEET PG 2022 aspirants: Tamil Nadu MP writes to health minister

NEW DELHI: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson has written to Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya requesting postponement of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET PG 2022), which is scheduled to be held on May 21, 2022.

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This is not the first letter addressing the Union health minister requesting postponement of the medical entrance exam. Medical aspirants and resident doctors associations have also sought help from President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi to postpone the exam by 6 to 8 weeks.

Before P Wilson, several other members of the Parliament have also come out in support of students.

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“It is grave injustice to students to fix NEET PG 2022 on May 21, when the admission process for NEET PG 2021 concluded only on May 7. By direction of CM MK Stalin, I have addressed Hon. Mansukh Mandaviya to postpone the exams by at least 6-8 weeks & help students,” the Tamil Nadu MP wrote on Twitter.

The NEET PG 2021 Counselling was delayed due to petitions filed before the Supreme Court challenging the OBC and EWS reservation. In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on January 20, 2022, upheld the 27% OBC reservation in state contributed seats to All India Quota(AIQ).

As a result of the delay, the final allotment of mop-up round for the NEET PG 2021Counselling was released on March 24. The mop-up round was conducted and cancelled and then a fresh round for 146 PG students was conducted till April 7, 2022. Further, the stray vacancy result was declared on May 2 and intimation was sent to students on May 3. The candidates have been asked to report to the allotted colleges by May 7, 2022.

It is grave injustice to students to fix #NEETPG2022 on May 21, when admission process for NEET PG 2021 concluded only on May 7. By direction of Hon. CM @mkstalin I have addressed Hon. @mansukhmandviya avargal to postpone the exams by atleast 6-8 weeks & help students. pic.twitter.com/2SXSm9eFCM

— P. Wilson (@PWilsonDMK) May 9, 2022

On the other hand, the NEET PG 2022 application deadline was extended till May 4, 2022.

Also read | NEET PG 2022: Aspirants to hold 'peaceful' protest today seeking postponement of exam

The MP pointed out that the gap between NEET PG 2021 Counselling competition and NEET PG 2022 exam is hardly less than three weeks. “This lack of time has caused anguish and grief to many medical aspirants in NEET PG 2022. You can imagine the state of mind of these students, who till May 2022, were hoping to secure admission through NEET PG 2021, and after discovering they were unsuccessful, have to immediately prepare for the next set of examinations.

“It is also pertinent to mention that this lack of time between NEET PG 2021 admission and NEET PG 2022 exam disallows and make ineligible many aspiring students from states of Kerala, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir, who are at the moment fulfilling their internship requirements and therefore the deadline excludes potential and capable students from these states,” he added.

“...If the intention of the union government in conducting NEET is to select the best medical minds, it certainly cannot be conducted like this, giving no time for preparation and excluding students from 3 states.”