Aspirants and health activists sceptical about spl arrangements for NEET

However, medical seat aspirants in the State are not convinced, noting that they faced several risks like travelling to the exam centre that is far from their native.

RS Chiranjeevi, an aspirant, said many like him have been waiting for much-delayed the test to be over with. However, travelling to exam centers posed a risk, he said. “I am a native of Madurai but was given Coimbatore as my exam centre. It is difficult for all the aspirants to travel, especially due to the various restrictions,” he said.

Many students opined that postponing the test was a better option than conducting it amid increasing number of COVID-19 cases. “There are so many hotspots; conducting exams would be a risk for the students. It is not a favourable time to conduct the exam, as it might pose the risk of spreading the pandemic. Otherwise, these exam centres could emerge as another hotspot like what happened in the case of Koyambedu wholesale market complex,” said Sundaresan, another student. Though there are a section of aspirants who is of the view that the examination could be conducted after taking adequate precautionary measures, government doctors associations said the infrastructure in the State could prove inadequate to implement the precautionary measures effectively. “The exam centers are inappropriately located and students will face several issues, including as travel and accommodation, other than the exposure to the infection. Due to the high number of COVID cases, we suggest that the government postpones the exam for a specific period of time to prevent any outbreak,” said Dr GR Ravindranath, secretary, Doctors’ Association for Social Equality.

Commenting on the preventive measures and guidelines issued by National Testing Agency, Dr Ravindranath said the infrastructure required to conduct the exams was not available in the State. Also, the number of exam centres should also be increased.

When contacted, senior officials from the Directorate of Medical Education said that the State government had requested the Centre to cancel NEET this academic year and allow admission on the basis of Class 12 marks. However, the decision was not with the State, they pointed out. “We have the responsibility to conduct the exams following the standard protocols. However, we cannot decide on the cancellation of the exams,” said the official.