Thousands of medical students who are taking part in the delayed counselling of the post-graduate NEET 2021 entrance exam have complained that they have been left with virtually no time to prepare for this year’s exam to improve their prospects and have sought deferring of the upcoming edition.

Students who have secured ranks between 15,000 and 35,000 in the written segment of last year’s NEET-PG do not expect a bright prospect of taking up the subjects of their choice in the MD/MS courses and had been looking to the 2022 edition of the exam for another shot.

However, because of Covid and then a legal imbroglio the counselling of last year’s NEET is expected to stretch till mid-May while the written exam of NEET-PG 2022 is scheduled to be held on May 21. This will leave students whose ranks were not satisfactory last year with little scope to prepare for this year’s exam.

Many students wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday, pleading for the postponement of NEET-PG 2022 by at least three months.

The third and fourth (final) rounds of counselling for NEET-PG 2021 is currently in progress. Around 35,000 students will be taken into MD/MS courses through the NEET-PG.

NEET-PG 2021 got delayed because of the pandemic. The written exam was scheduled to be held in January 2021 but could be conducted only in September. Then the counselling process got held up for three months because of a court case over the applicability of quotas for other backward classes (OBC) and economically weaker sections (EWS) in all-India-pool seats. After the Supreme Court allowed the quotas, the counselling finally took off in January.

There are four rounds of counselling, with students being called to each based on their ranking in the written exam.

The students suffered another blow when several medical colleges were found to have declared the additional seats cleared for last year only during the third round of counselling. The Supreme Court on March 31 cancelled the third or mop-op round in many colleges and ordered them to conduct this leg afresh.

“By the time the four rounds of counselling are over, it will be mid-May. There will be no time for students like us to focus on this year’s NEET-PG,” said Dr Venkat, a student from Hyderabad.

He has been ranked around 25,000 and is unsure if he will get admission to a clinical branch in post-graduation.

“Most institutions are conducting counselling in the offline mode. You have to visit the institutions. There is no scope for studying for the next NEET-PG entrance exam,” he said.

Another student said: “There should be a legitimate gap between the counselling for last year’s NEET and the exam this year. We did Covid duty last year postponing our studies. Then we had to wait for the outcome of the court cases. We are not responsible for the delay in the admission process. We should be given a fair chance to take this year’s NEET-PG.”

The Telegraph sent an email to the National Board of Examinations asking about the concerns of the students. A response is awaited.