18 lakh appear for NEET, Ukraine returnees among them

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 17

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) for admission to MBBS courses across India was held today with over 18 lakh students taking the exam.

As many as 18,72,341 aspirants for the medical undergraduate programme had registered for the test.

Among those who took the exam were several Ukraine returnees whose careers are hanging in the balance.

Many Ukraine-returned students, who were either in the first or second year of the MBBS course in the war-torn country, registered for NEET (UG) this year, hoping to get another chance at a medical seat.

These students had earlier also cleared NEET (UG), but did not have ranks high enough to land MBBS admission in government colleges.

Few can afford the exorbitantly high private MBBS course fees in India.

Arushi Jain from New Delhi, who returned from Ukraine in March, sat for the test today for the third time.

The 21-year-old says nearly one-third of the 18,000 Indian students who returned from Ukraine took NEET (UG) today, hoping to better their ranks and get affordable government medical college seats with the National Medical Commission delaying a decision on their future.

No wonder the number of NEET (UG) applicants this year surged by 16 per cent from 16,14,777 in 2021 to 18,72,341 in 2022.

The statistics mean 20 students will compete for one MBBS seat this year, a ratio that was 11 in 2014 and has been rising.

The demand and supply gap in the MBBS education sector continues to persist despite recent additions to infrastructure.

The number of medical colleges in India has gone up from 387 in 2014 to 596 now; the number of MBBS candidates has risen from 5,79,604 (AIPMT) in 2014 to 18,72,339 in 2022 (2016 per cent rise) and the number of MBBS seats has risen from 52,000 in 2014 to 89,875 (72.8 per cent rise).

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