Postpone NEET MDS 2024 to July; decision to affect 25,000 aspirants, says AISU

NEW DELHI: All India Students’ Union (AISU) in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, and National Board of Examination has requested to postpone the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Master of Dental Surgery (NEET MDS 2024) to July.

The NBE in November announced that it will hold the NEET MDS exam on February 9. Later, in a notification dated January 20, it said that the exam has been postponed to March 18.

“This short notice of two months stands in stark contrast to NEET PG aspirants who were informed of their postponement six months in advance. The delay in announcing NEET MDS dates has significantly hampered aspirants' preparation and deteriorated their mental health,” the students group said.

NEET PG 2024 exam which was slated for March 3 was rescheduled to July 7. The internship cut-off date for NEET PG 2024 is August 15 and for NEET MDS is March 31.

Calling the decision ‘impractical’, the students union said the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) conducts a common counselling process for NEET PG, MDS and the admission will only commence after the completion of the NEET PG internship which is in August.

Issues faced by NEET MDS aspirants

In 2020, NEET MDS was held on December 16 and the NEET PG exam was postponed several times from January to April and further to September 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the counselling process is held together, the NEET MDS candidates who appeared in December 2020 had to wait till November 21 for the counselling.

“This year could see a repetition of such a scenario if NEET MDS is not conducted concurrently with NEET PG in July. Dental students would face an extended idle period from March to Sept/Aug, spanning 6-7 months, leading to a wastage of their precious time,” the AISU said.

“Failure to address these issues promptly could potentially jeopardize the future of more than 25,000 NEET MDS aspirants,” it said.

“BDS students of the 2018 batch face potential ineligibility due to internships extending beyond 31 March 2024. While the National Medical Commission (NMC) conducted a survey for 2018 batch internship completion, no such initiative was taken by the Dental Council of India (DCI),” it said.

Further, the students requested to postpone NEET MDS preferably to July to ensure ‘fairness, uniformity’.