The medical students of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), All India Medical Students’ Association (AIMSA), and the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) are protesting across the country for the postponement of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-PG (NEET PG) 2023 exam. The plea is to shift the date from March 5th, 2023 to the last week of May or the first week of June.
As students are juggling between their internship and clinical work, they are finding it difficult to prepare for the exam as the date was announced by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) in a jiffy in order to regularise the schedule of the aforementioned postgraduate entrance exam which was disturbed due to COVID-19. Also, there will be a gap of 5-6 months approximately between the exam date and counseling rendering students unemployed for that much duration.
Students of FAIMA protested outside Jantar Mantar, New Delhi as they are mentally disturbed and tired by the short span of preparation time. The subjects of preparation include Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, Forensic medicine, Social and preventive medicine, General medicine including dermatology and venereology, psychiatry, General surgery including orthopedics, anesthesia, and radiodiagnosis, Obstetrics, and Gynaecology, Pediatrics, ENT, and Ophthalmology. The syllabus which includes a myriad number of topics demands preparation that is tiring and exhausting and 25 days aren’t enough to conclude the preparation.
Meanwhile, a piece of news was circulated on social media on the day of the protest regarding the demand being met by NBE for the postponement of the exam to May 21st, 2023. However, the official Twitter account of the Press Information Bureau of the Government of India and the Ministry of Health in its tweet stamped the piece of information as fake and requested the students to only follow the official website of NBE for further notifications and to dial the helpline number 022-61087595 in case of their doubts. The NBEMS Candidate Care service will not be available on weekends or on holidays that are officially recognized by the Government.
In several tweets during the past 24 hours, students have listed their pain and agony saying that COVID warriors should be given ample time for preparation and to complete their internship before the exam as an internship certificate is mandatory to participate in NEET PG counseling.
