Not fair to us, say stressed medicos after last minute NEET-PG exam postponement

CHENNAI: The sudden postponement of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) PG examination has led to extreme stress, inconvenience and uncertainty among the medicos. Earlier, the delay in issuing the admit cards and then the sudden postponement created a lot of confusion.

“I belong to the 2016 batch. My internship got over two years back and since then I am preparing for this exam. It’s really traumatising waking up to the news of postponement just 12 hours before the exam. I have been preparing for this exam for a whole year, especially the last one month I gave it all and was so ready to go and give the exam and finish it off because I had pushed away all my personal commitments just for this one exam,” said Dr Anushya Anburaj, a NEET PG aspirant from Tamil Nadu.

She added, “it’s very difficult to maintain the momentum till the announcement of the new date. It’s really hard because it’s a high stake exam where the competition is too high. I think it’s really not fair to make the young doctors of the country go through such mental turmoil.”

As lot of students travelled to other districts, many of them even planned their weddings around the examination. “My cousin who was appearing for NEET PG had planned his engagement in July and wedding was planned in September. It was all based on the examination schedule as the exam was expected to be held in June. The family is stressed because of these changes and now there is no certainty of when the exam will be held and it will disrupt the personal plans,” said Aravind, family member of a NEET PG aspirant.

It is not just the students, but even the parents who had travelled for the examination to other districts, keeping their work and daily chores aside. It added to the travel expenses and out of pocket expenditure and the regret for the inconvenience as mentioned in the circular is not enough, they say.