NEET PG exams postponed due to rising COVID-19 cases, next date to be announced later

National Board of Examinations (NBE) was scheduled to conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Postgraduate on April 18.

Moneycontrol News
April 15, 2021 / 08:30 PM IST

Representational image


In view of the rising COVID-19 cases in the country, the central government has decided to postpone the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Postgraduate) (NEET-PG), Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan tweeted on April 15.

National Board of Examinations (NBE) was scheduled to conduct the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Postgraduate on April 18.

"Decision has been taken keeping well-being of our young medical students in mind," the health minister tweeted.

The minister also stated that the next date for the exam will be announced after reviewing the situation in the country.

"A notice will be issued well in advance before the conduct of the examination," the statement said.

In light of the surge in #COVID19 cases,GoI has decided to postpone #NEETPG2021 exam which was earlier scheduled to be held on Apr 18
Next date to be decided later


Decision has been taken keeping wellbeing of our young medical students in mind.@PMOIndia@MoHFW_INDIA#NEETPG

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

View more
How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

View more
Show
— Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) April 15, 2021

The decision comes after a petition was filed before the Supreme Court by group of nine doctors seeking postponement of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for post graduate candidates, live law has reported.

"The (NEET PG) examination was initially scheduled for January 2021 but stood postponed due to COVID situation which was far better than the present situation with over 1 lakh cases per day," the petition stated.

The plea also stated that the entire notification and conduct of examinations on April 18 is not in public interest as there is a shortage of doctors, hospital beds and COVID-19 vaccines, as per the report. It also pointed out about the postponement of the CBSE Class 10 and 12 exams.