TN doctor J&K bound for tomorrow's NEET-PG exam
In one such case, a doctor from Dharmapuri is now on her way to Jammu and Kashmir to take Sunday's test.
CHENNAI: Even as the Supreme Court dismissed the plea to postpone the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Postgraduate) (NEET-PG) scheduled for August 11, stating it can't put the careers of two lakh candidates in jeopardy, at least some of the students here rue that they have been allocated cities that are highly inconvenient for them to reach.
In one such case, a doctor from Dharmapuri is now on her way to Jammu and Kashmir to take Sunday's test. There are others as well, stressed that they have to worry about their travel outside the State, instead of making last-minute preparations for the highly anticipated test.
Lamenting that even after the reallocation of centres, her centre was not changed, the Dharmapuri doctor, who preferred anonymity, told DT Next: "Last time when I travelled to J&K, the exam got cancelled last minute. Even after that, my exam venue has not been changed and I still have to travel to J&K."
"Among other confusion, improper allotment of the examination centres and two types of question papers, the travel itself and the uncertainty add to the concern," she said adding that holding the exam in two batches is worrying and unfair because there is a chance of one paper being easy and the other difficult. "There are multiple issues that need to be addressed," she added.
The NEET PG 2024 exam schedule has seen multiple changes, which was initially planned to be held on March 3, 2024. It was later postponed to July 7 due to the general elections and then the date was advanced to June 23. On June 22, the exam was rescheduled only about 10 hours before the exam and the examination was rescheduled to be held on August 11.
The candidates have pointed out that the postponements and allocation of exam centres about 1,000 km away by the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) shows mismanagement.
"We made arrangements through flight or train to arrange logistics and transportation for the exam after contacting our acquaintances in Andhra Pradesh. The trains are full if we book before a week or two and flights are costly," said Dr Punith, a NEET-PG aspirant adding that a lot of them lost money on travel last time as postponement was announced at the eleventh hour.
"Why the students cannot be placed at the most convenient place for them as per their choices?," asked Dr Raji, another NEET-PG aspirant.
