Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 5: The National Eligibility and Entrance Test for admission in post-graduate medical courses (NEET-PG) examination, which was originally scheduled to be held on June 23 but was postponed the previous day, will now be held on August 11 in two shifts, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences announced on Friday.
“In continuation of NBEMS notice dated 22.06.2024, the conduct of NEET-PG 2024 has been rescheduled. The NEET-PG shall now be conducted on 11th August 2024 in two shifts. The cut-off date for the purpose of eligibility to appear in the NEET-PG 2024 shall continue to be 15th August 2024,” the board said in a notification.
It said the further details regarding the conduct of examination in two shifts would be published on the NBEMS website. With questions being raised about the “integrity of certain competitive examinations,” the Health Ministry had postponed the entrance examination “as a precautionary measure,” just hours before it was due to be held on June 23 morning.
“Taking into consideration, the recent incidents of allegations regarding the integrity of certain competitive examinations, Ministry of Health has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of processes of NEET-PG Entrance Examination, conducted by National Board of Examination for medical students,” ministry of health had said in a statement while postponing the examinations.
The ministry had said it would undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of the processes of the NEET-PG, conducted by the NBEMS along with its technical partner TCS for medical students.
Accordingly, a meeting was held in the union home ministry on July 2 in which officials from the Health Ministry, National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), along with its technical partner Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Cyber Cell officials discussed the preparedness for the NEET-PG, which is to be held online. The meeting was held to check the “robustness” of the system for the conduct of the exam in the coming days, sources said.
The NEET-PG is a national level entrance test for admission to all post MBBS Diplomate of National Board (DNB) courses, post MBBS direct 6-year doctorate courses and NBEMS diploma courses offered by medical colleges across the country.
Besides NEET-PG, the Centre had cancelled UGC-NET examination, saying that it received inputs about the ‘integrity of the exam’ being compromised. The UGC-NET examination will now be held sometime in August or September. The UGC-NET is a test to determine the eligibility for the award of Junior Research Fellowship, for appointment of assistant professors and admission to PhD courses.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) UGC-NET, which was postponed as a pre-emptive measure amid the row over alleged irregularities in the conduct of exams, will now be held from July 25-July 27. The CSIR UGC-NET is accepted for PhD admissions in Chemical Sciences, Earth, Atmospheric, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physical Sciences.