The Supreme Court on Friday refused to postpone the NEET-PG-22 examination on a plea of doctors, saying the delay would cause unavailability of doctors and seriously affect patient care.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant said postponement of the examination would create chaos and uncertainty and would affect the larger section of students, who have registered for the examination.

There are two categories of students -- one which is seeking postponement and the larger category of over two lakh six thousand candidates -- who would be affected by the postponement after having prepared for the examination , the bench said.

It noted that the government is trying to bring back the schedule of examination on time as it was affected due to the pandemic.

As the country gets back on the rails, which was derailed due to the pandemic, the time schedule laid down by this court must be adhered to , it said.

On May 10, the top court had agreed to hear the plea of doctors seeking postponement of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2022 which is scheduled to be held on May 21 on grounds that it will clash with the ongoing counselling for NEET-PG 2021.