Medical candidates in a fix over NEET

The notification on the National Eligibility- cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduates for admissions to MBBS and BDS for year 2013-14 issued on Saturday has placed the students preparing for EAMCET-2013 (medicine stream) in a dilemma.

Now they are perplexed as to what to prepare for  EAMCET-2013 which may be held or not, or for NEET-UG 2013 for which a notification has already been issued.

The Supreme Court is yet to give its verdict on the state government’s plea for exemption from NEET for state students for another year. The Medical Council of India (MCI) has refused do entertain the state’s request.

Meanwhile, private medical colleges in the state have  decided to conduct an entrance test of their own. “We have decided to conduct our own entrance test, for which a notification will be issued shortly,’’ says G.Bhaskar Rao, treasurer of AP Private Medical and Dental Colleges Managements Association.

This only deepens the MBBS aspirants’ dilemma on which examination to prepare for and on the prospects of securing a seat. ‘’It is very confusing and I don’t know which to prepare for - EAMCET or NEET now that a notification for the latter has been issued. The Supreme Court is yet to give verdict and if the verdict is in favour of MCI and the NEET is made mandatory, then what? As of today, we are prepared for EAMCET, which is based on state syllabus, while NEET is based on CBSE syllabus. I hope there will be an exemption for state from NEET for 2013,’’ says Ch Harshavardhan, an MBBS aspirant from Nalgonda.

Echoing a similar fear, B Jyothsna of Vijayawada says that she too is scared of the situation and hopes the government will ensure EAMCET for 2013. ‘’I am not prepared for NEET which is CBSE-based. My Intermediate syllabus is state’s. Further, NEET will be an all-India test and the competition will be tough,’’ she says. Her mother B Sujatha says governments should not play with the careers of children.

Some coaching centres are confident that they will be able to train the students for NEET if it becomes mandatory for 2013 and an additional 20 to 25 days of classes will be enought to prepare the candidates for the examination. But students are not that confident. “We have prepared for long on the EAMCET model and to prepare for an entirely new test based on a completely different syllabus and different model will be tough,’’ says K Harshita, a MBBS aspirant from Kurnool.

The advice of officials in the medical education department to students is: prepare for both the tests.