A nationwide body of medical students on Monday asked the Union health ministry to postpone the NEET-PG 2022 exam scheduled for May 21, 2022, citing uncertainty for thousands of candidates amid delays in counselling for admissions after last year’s exam.

The Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA) has urged the health ministry to take into account the delays and postpone NEET-PG 2022 for a reasonable period of time so that NEET-PG 2021 aspirants get sufficient time to prepare for NEET-PG 2022.

Under the current anticipated schedule, counselling for 2021 is likely to continue during the first half of May. Some states have announced dates for the pending counselling, most of which revolve around the middle of May, FAIMA has said in a letter to the health ministry.

More than 150,000 MBBS doctors had appeared for the NEET (National Entrance-Eligibility Test)-PG 2021 for around 35,000 seats in courses leading to MD or MS degrees. Although the exam was held in September 2021, counselling started only on January 12 this year because the exam authorities had put counselling on hold while the Supreme Court heard petitions relating to reservations.

But the counselling and admissions anticipated to be done by March 31 remain incomplete.

“Since January until now, the exam authorities have changed counselling dates seven times, and of the two mop-up counselling rounds done, the results of one have been cancelled. Neither Central nor state counselling is complete even today,” said FAIMA president Rohan Krishnan.

FAIMA estimates that among around 19,000 seats under the all-India quota allocated through central counselling, 14,000 have been filled and counselling and admissions for the other 5,000 are pending. Counselling for state-quota seats in Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, among other states are also pending.

In Himachal Pradesh, for instance, a mop-up counselling round fixed for May 4 2022 has now been scheduled for May 9 at the Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla. The candidates need to bring in documents, undated cheques and MBBS degrees and physically report there.

Krishnan said around 30,000 PG aspirants who appeared for the 2021 exam are also expected to take the 2022 exam. Normally, he said, students would get five or six months to prepare as the PG exam is held in May after counselling completion by December the previous year.

“If the NEET-PG exam is held on May 21, these students will get barely a few days for preparation,” Krishnan said. “This would not be fair because they’re not responsible for the delays in counselling. We’re asking for a deferral by a reasonable period — four to six weeks. This will not in any way adversely effect the next batch of candidates.”