The ‘first come, first serve’ system implemented by the National Board Of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has resulted in no examination centres being available in Bengaluru for thousands of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Post Graduate (NEET PG) 2024 aspirants this year.
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NBEMS invited applications online on April 16 for admission through NEET PG for medical PG courses for 2024-25. May 6 is the last date to apply, while the exam will be held on June 23 and result will be announced on July 15.
The examination centres were allocated in Bengaluru, Davangere, and Belagavi in the State. According to information from the Medical Directorate of the State, a total of 31 examination centres have been allocated in Bengaluru.
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Candidates have been allowed to select the cities where they will appear for the exam in the online application. For the first time, the seats available in the exam centres will be allotted on first-come, first-serve basis. Due to this, within a few hours of notification for NEET PG, the candidates selected all available seats in the examination centres of Bengaluru.
“We were shocked that despite moving early and submitting the application within 24 hours of the notification of NEET PG, there were no test centres available in Bengaluru, where my daughter studied and where we live. It is quite inconvenient to go to another city despite being one of the early applicants. Many of my daughter’s batchmates haven’t applied yet and it is inconceivable that a large city like Bengaluru has already run out of test centres,” said a parent.
“As there was an opportunity to submit the application till May 6, the application was submitted on April 19. However, the examination centres in Bengaluru were not available. So, it is inevitable to choose examination centres in Davangere or Belagavi,” said another NEET PG aspirant.
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Some aspirants demanded abolishment of the first come, first serve system. Prajwal (name changed) said Bengaluru is a major centre of higher education and the largest number of medical colleges and medical students in the State are in Bengaluru. “The system has caused problems for candidates of Bengaluru. Eamination centres should be fixed according to the number of candidates. The government should immediately hold talks with NBEMS and take appropriate action,” he said.
“My daughter completed her MBBS in a private college in the city. Unfortunately, there were no seats available here. So we chose Chennai for the examination,” said Parashuram, a parent. “Calls were made to the helpline number 7996165333 provided by NBEMS, but there was no response. This is the height of negligence,” another aspirant said.
Speaking to The Hindu, Sujatha Rathod, director, Medical Directorate-Karnataka, said: “Due to the first come, first serve system, the seats in all the examination centres in Bengaluru are full. A candidate from any State or city of the country can choose the centre of any other city. It is imperative that candidates choose examination centres in Belagavi, Davangere, or other States, apart from Bengaluru,” she said.