'Aspiring doctors have put in years of their lives to study in preparation for NEET exams as they start studies from Class 9 to get good marks.'
'And today, after the NEET paper leak, these students even after getting good marks are unable to get admission in any good medical college (because of inflated merit marks due to the paper leak).'
'They are thinking, was it worthwhile to study so hard for the examinations to become a doctor?'
On Monday, June 24, 2024, when Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took the oath as the Lok Sabha member from Sambalpur, the Opposition started raising 'NEET' slogans to embarrass him.
Pradhan has had to face embarrassment after news broke of the question paper leak during the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET-UG) for aspiring medical students.
Pradhan initially denied there was any wrongdoing, but his National Democratic Alliance government soon ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the matter.
More bad news followed for the students who wanted to appear for NEET-post graduate on Sunday, June 23, 2024, as the government decided to postpone the exams hours before it was to be conducted.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com spoke to Dr Dhruv Chauhan, health activist and National Council Coordinator of the Indian Medical Association: Junior Doctors Network, to know more about the issue.
How do you see the situation unfolding in the ongoing NEET controversy after the PG exams were cancelled?
Right now the situation is very pathetic.
As a health rights activist and a doctor myself I feel the situation was already bad due to the assault on doctors by mobs in different hospitals across the country.
But then, this mob violence was after you became a doctor. Right now, what used to happen to doctors after entering the profession is happening to them before they enter the medical profession, thanks to the NEET question paper leak.
To become a doctor is becoming toxic in this country.
They (medical students) are going through mental agony post the NEET paper leak issue.
Aspiring doctors do not know about the fair conduct of exams in which they are appearing after putting in so much effort.
They have put in years of their lives to study in preparation for NEET exams as they start studies from Class 9 to get good marks.
And today, after the NEET paper leak, these students even after getting good marks are unable to get admission in any good medical college (because of inflated merit marks due to the paper leak).
They are thinking, was it worthwhile to study so hard for the examinations to become a doctor?
Their future is a question mark now.
What about the NEET-PG exams?
Here you see there were three back to back exams that were cancelled or postponed, so why did the government not take care of NEET-PG sooner?
They knew NEET-UG was under a scanner but still took a late decision to act on NEET-PG. Why did they cancel this exam just 12 hours before?
In NEET-PG there were around 250,000 students who were to appear for the exams. Some travelled a great distance to reach their examination centres in the morning only to know that the exams got cancelled 12 hours before.
Money, time and investment, everything gone waste.
The most educated profession in the country is losing hope in the education sector.
As this was the first time NEET-PG has been postponed, isn't your comment on losing hope in the education sector too strong?
In one month four exams were either postponed or under suspicion of paper leak.
This is not only about NEET-UG or NEET-PG but also about CSIR-NET (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research National Eligibility Test) and UGC-NET (University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test).
NEET-UG is still under suspicion and only the government knows why they did not take action in NEET-UG and took action in the three other exams that were postponed.
Are you saying there is some gadbad or wrongdoing in NEET-UG?
There is no NEET gadbad but a scam. And this scam is in front of the 1.3 billion strong Indian population.
Everybody knows that there were arrests on May 5 due to paper leak when exams were being conducted for NEET.
Even after that the government and ministry of education denied the paper leak allegations.
They said then that there was no leak of papers and now the police investigations show students admitting that there was a paper leak in NEET-UG.
This is not restricted to one isolated state but in various states of India.
If the NEET question papers were leaked in various states, why should we not call it as an NEET scam? That is my point.
What should the government do now as they have already ordered a CBI probe into the case?
The government has to do a lot as they did not take action on time.
Mental agony and mental pressure on aspirant doctor students are something that this government cannot reverse now.
The only thing that can be demanded from the government now is that they must conduct fair examinations on time.
They must have clarity on this issue and what measures they have taken to ensure that there won't be any paper leak in future.
This has to be transparent to the aspiring doctors who are appearing for exams.