NEET-MDS 2024: Internship cut-off date extended to June 30; no change in exam schedule

Tribune News Service

New Delhi March 8

Amidst demand by students, medical associations and political representatives to postpone the NEET-MDS examinations, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) on Thursday has extended the deadline for internship completion cut-off date to June 30 but the exam will be held on March 18, as previously scheduled.

NBEMS said that candidates who complete their internship between April 1 and June 30 this year are eligible to apply for the exam.

“Candidates can submit their NEET-MDS 2024 applications online from March 9 onwards. The application submission deadline is March 11, till 11:55 pm. Interested and eligible candidates will be able to submit their NEET MDS 2024 application form on the official website, natboard.edu.in. Candidates can select their exam state or city for the test. NBEMS will assign a test city in the specified state or a nearby state based on availability,” it said.

However, the medical associations are still demanding the Union Health Minister Mansukh Madaviya to postpone the exam.

Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) posted on X, “We thank @mansukhmandviya ji for increasing the date of eligibility criteria. However, it would have been better if students would have got more time to prepare for the exams and postponement till July. We still request to reconsider upon the date of exams as well.”

Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) had also written to Mandaviya to postpone the examination.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that he has been approached by many NEET MDS 2024 aspirants who are in great distress due to the current NEET MDS 2024 exam date, which makes scores of students ineligible.

“I have been approached by dozens of our bright medical aspirants who have been in great distress over the March 18 date of the NEET MDS exam, which renders thousands of MDS interns (of the COVID-afflicted 2018 batch) ineligible. Despite an SC directive asking the govt to examine the matter sympathetically, the exam is yet to be rescheduled. I strongly urge the govt to expeditiously postpone the exam to a later date, and safeguard the future of our aspiring doctors,” his message reads on the X platform.

Earlier, the students whose internships were getting over by March 31 were eligible to apply. With this, over 8,000 interns across the country became ineligible to take the exam. The internships of 2018 batch students who were to take up the NEET-MDS exam, according to the students, were delayed due to the pandemic.

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