Covid norms: Centre fails to take measures to provide safety to students appearing for NEET

Kolkata: The future of medical aspirants having fever, coughs and colds is hanging in the balance as they may not be able to appear the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the nationwide medical entrance exam scheduled to take place on September 13.

The instructions issued by the National Testing Agency (NTA) said that it is up to the decision of the exam center authorities if they will allow a particular candidate into the exam hall if Covid like symptoms are found in them. An isolation center has been set up at various centers where the suspected patients can be accommodated. But it's the discretion of the center authorities whether the candidates with fever or cough and cold will appear the entrance test.

Many medical aspirants from the state have argued that the instructions issued by the Center are ineffective as they do not provide any clear guidelines to the candidates.

They also blamed the Centre for not taking up adequate steps in this regard.

Susanta Pramanik, a medical aspirant appearing the exam said: "Union Health Ministry's instructions said that there must be a doctor at the exam center to determine through symptoms if a particular candidate is a Covid suspect or he/she has been suffering from a common cough and cold. But in most of the centers there is no arrangement of doctors. The centre authorities will take the final call."

"Over 77,000 medical aspirants are appearing NEET this year from Bengal. It is quite possible that some candidates out of the total number have common cold or sneezing due to any other reasons apart from Covid. Will their future depend on the center authorities? In many places candidates have to travel a long distance top reach the exam center. If someone is denied entry in such a mere on mere whims of the center authorities it would be an unfortunate incident," Nilanjan Bishnu another candidate from Nadia said.

"The Centre must hold NEET for the second time for those who will not be able to appear the examination for genuine reasons. There had been instances in the past where the exam was held for more than once," Dr A.K Maity, an expert in the field of medical education said.

The number of candidates has gone up in Bengal this year. Last year around 67,776 students appeared in NEET from Bengal while in this year the number has reached 77,061. There are a total 189 centers falling under 9 zones.

All the candidates have to fill up an info chart on the admit card declaring if they have any fever, cough and cold or if they came in close contact with a Covid patient.

Many demanded that NTA should have arranged separate examination halls at various medical colleges for suspected candidates.