Summary
September 29 and 30 set as new dates for exam, admit cards to be issued by September 22 and results to be declared by October 15
A central exam board has told postgraduate doctors it cannot establish a test centre in Srinagar for the National Eligibility and Entrance Test for Super-Speciality (NEET-SS) courses, citing “security” concerns in the city.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences has told the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA), a network of postgraduate doctors, that it could not find a secure test centre in Srinagar and candidates for NEET-SS could opt for Jammu.
The board on Saturday set September 29 and 30 as the new dates for NEET-SS 2023. It had last week postponed the earlier scheduled dates of September 9 and 10, citing the G20 summit in Delhi and the associated travel restrictions. The board said it will issue admit cards to candidates by September 22 and the exam results will be declared by October 15.
The board in its letter to FAIMA on August 29 said the decision to establish a test centre depends on the availability of “secure test centres” to hold the exam.
“The audit of available test centres in the city of Srinagar has revealed that the required standards of security are not met at the centres available to hold the examination as on date,” M. Bajpai, the board’s executive director, said in the letter to FAIMA.
Earlier, on August 11, the board had written a similar letter to the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the National Medicos Association (NMO), rejecting its request to include Srinagar as a centre for the exam then scheduled for September 9-10.
The postponement meant students who have to travel to reach NEET-SS test centres have had to reschedule their travel plans, according to candidates who say the largest such group of doctors is in Srinagar and its neighbouring areas.
The board has pointed out in its August 29 letter that Srinagar had no test centre for NEET-SS in 2022 either and candidates from Jammu and Kashmir may opt for the test centre in Jammu.
Doctors said they are baffled by the board’s claim about “security” because Srinagar is a test centre for several other nationwide examinations, including the NEET-UG for admission to the undergraduate MBBS course and NEET-PG for admission to postgraduate MD and MS courses.
“Many more candidates appear for NEET-UG and NEET-PG exams than for NEET-SS,” said Rubeena Bhat, a haematologist and president of the resident doctors association at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar.
Over 400 doctors from Srinagar and neighbouring areas will need to travel for NEET-SS, she said.
The candidates for NEET-SS are postgraduate doctors with MD or MS degrees who wish to join courses leading to DM, Mch, or DrNB -- superspeciality degrees in fields such as cardiology, critical care medicine, nephrology, gastrointestinal surgery, paediatric surgery or surgical oncology.
The NEET-SS has test centres in 36 cities, the board has said.
Last updated on 04 Sep 2023
