The Union Health Ministry has asked the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to postpone NEET PG 2022 by six to eight weeks since it clashes with the NEET PG 2021 counselling.

On January 25, six MBBS graduates had filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking postponement of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) scheduled on March 12 for admissions in postgraduate medical courses, claiming that many MBBS graduates would not be able to take up the examination due to non-completion of the mandatory internship period.

Dr B Srinivas, Assistant Director General (Medical Education) and Member Secretary of the Medical Counselling Committee, in a communication sent to Dr M Bajpai, executive director of NBE, said that a lot of representations were being received from medical doctors requesting to postpone the NEET-PG 2022 examination as it was clashing with the NEET PG 2021 counselling.

Also, many of the interns would not be able to participate in the PG counselling 2022 in May-June, Srinivas said.

Keeping the above facts in view, the HFM (ministry of health and family welfare) has taken the decision to postpone NEET PG 2022 by 6-8 weeks or suitably. Hence, the decision made by HFM may be complied with, the communication sent on February 3 stated.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear a plea on the postponement of the examination on Friday.

Even thoug Health Ministry has postponed NEET PG 2022, the Supreme Court hearing would still happen. Since the matter is listed as item number 38, it is expected to be taken up by 12 noon.