NEET PG 2023: TN Candidates Face Trouble Due To Faraway Test Centers

The aspirants of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) examination from Tamil Nadu is facing troubles due to the far away test centers allotted to them for March 5, 2023.

Even though the National Board of Examinations, the body in charge of conducting the NEET PG Examination, had earlier promised to allot test centers 'nearest' to Chennai. Several aspirants were allotted centers in faraway places such as Vijaywada (900 km) in Andhra Pradesh or Nalgonda (550k) in Telangana, adds TOI.

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The NEET PG 2023 examination is scheduled for March 5, 2023, and more than 2 lakh aspirants have registered for the test. Even though candidates have moved to the (SC) Supreme Court aiming to delay the exam, the Government authorities have repeatedly reiterated that the exam cannot be deferred.

While the procedure of online submission of applications was initiated on January 7, several candidates could not start with the procedure until January 14 because of the Training Guidelines.

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Previously, NBE and National Medical Commission had fixed the deadline for MBBS Training for appearing in NEET PG 2023 as March 31, 2023. Due to this, several thousands of aspirants were ineligible to write the exam.

After repeated representations from many States and Universities, the Internship Deadline was extended to June 30, 2023, and August 11, 2023.

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In the case of Tamil Nadu, the testing seats in Chennai got exhausted in the second week of January itself. Following this, the candidates urged the authorities to increase the number of seats in Chennai.

The daily adds that back then, NBE had asked the candidates to choose 'others' as their choice of testing city. It had promised to try adding centers in Chennai or allot seats at centers close to the city.

While commenting on the problems faced by the students, a student counselor told TOI, "Tamil Nadu has the maximum number of medical institutes in the country. This means they will have the maximum number of students taking the exam. The agency should have planned it beforehand. Traveling from one city to another is expensive and stressful."

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If a student requires to travel to Vizag, he must spend around Rs 5000 on the flight and another Rs 2000 on boarding and lodging for a day. According to some students, they have been posted to centers that do not have any direct flights at all.

"It may be less expensive to go by train or bus, but we must leave at least one day before. 

Most students from my institute have been allocated a center in Vizag. Some cannot take off for 2 to 3 days," a medical resident at a state-run medical institute mentioned.

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