NEET PG 2024 Was Postponed Due To 'Impersonation' Threats: Report

The Economic Times has reported that this year's National Eligibility-and-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2024 examination, which was previously scheduled to be conducted on June 23, was postponed at the last minute due to credible intelligence inputs suggesting potential 'impersonation' or manipulation attempts in the examination.

Even though there was no actual 'leak' involving the computer-based PG medical entrance test, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBE), which conducts the test, received information that indicated a significant risk of being compromised, stated a media report.

Eduethic had earlier reported that, in an unexpected turn of events, the NEET-PG 2024 exam was postponed just 12 hours before its scheduled date. The Union Health Ministry took this decision as a precautionary measure amid the ongoing controversies concerning the NEET and UGC NET exams.

Announcing this decision, the Union Health Ministry stated in a release, "Taking into consideration the recent incidents of allegations regarding the integrity of certain competitive examinations, the Ministry of Health has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of the processes of NEET-PG Entrance Examination, conducted by National Board of Examinations for medical students. As a precautionary measure, it has accordingly been decided to postpone the NEET-PG Entrance Examination, scheduled for tomorrow, i.e. 23rd June 2024."

While earlier there was no clarity regarding the exact reason for the exam's postponement, a recent media report by The Economic Times has now reported that the exam was cancelled as a "precautionary" measure because of clear intelligence inputs indicating possible "impersonation" or manipulation attempts in the computer-based test.
Business Standard has reported that a senior official told ET, "There was no actual leak, but credible complaints and inputs were there about possible impersonation attempts at some centres. There were also intelligence inputs. That is why it was decided to postpone the exam."
Recently, NBE announced that the PG medical entrance test will be held on 11 August 2024 in two shifts. However, NBE clarified that the cut-off date for eligibility to appear in the exam will continue to be 15 August 2024.
More than 240,000 candidates will appear in the NEET-PG exam for admission in 24,000 MD seats, 12,600 MS seats and 900 PG Diploma seats at various medical institutes.

The Central Government recently disclosed before the Supreme Court that the NEET-UG 2024 counselling will start in the third week of July. While the exact dates for the second round of registration will be disclosed later, the third round is expected to commence by the second week of September.