The long wait is finally over for many medical aspirants and students across the country. The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has released the Exam Calendar for the year 2021 which mentions the proposed dates for the conduct of various medical entrance examinations, which were postponed when the infections spiked in the country during the second wave of Covid-19.

NBEMS has issued an official notification regarding the tentative schedule of forthcoming examinations which are planned to be organized by the Board till the end of this year. This Notice also informs that the mentioned dates are purely tentative and subject to approvals and confirmations. Thus, candidates are advised to keep a regular check on the official website and information bulletin of NBEMS for exact dates.

According to the schedule, and as previously known, the NEET PG 2021 exam will be held on September 11. In view of a spike in COVID-19 cases, the NEET-PG which was scheduled to be held on April 18 was postponed.

The examination will be conducted in the morning session, from 09:00 am to 12:30 pm. The notice said 1,75,063 applications have been registered for NEET-PG this year and added that admit cards issued earlier for the examination on April 18 will be treated as “null and void”. Fresh admit cards shall be issued to already registered candidates, the schedule for which shall be notified on the NBEMS website.

Also, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the NBEMS has increased the number of test cities and centres for NEET-PG 2021. The NEET-PG 2021 shall be held in more than 260 cities at around 800 test centres across the country.

The Board has scheduled most of its exams in the months of September, November, and December. Out of this, the NEET-SS (super specialty) 2021 Exam will be conducted on 13th and 14th November. The DNB-PDCET 2021 exam and NBEMS Recruitment test are planned to be organized on September 19 and 20 respectively.

The exams scheduled in November are FET 2021 and DNB/DrNB Final practical examinations. However, the Board has not finalized any dates for these exams yet and will depend on the situations at that time. The Board has also notified that the last session for FMGE 2021 exam will be held on December 12. The Foreign Dental Screening Test 2021 will also be organized on the same day.

The NEET-MDS for 2022 will be held on 19th December 2021. While the Fellowship exit Examination of 2021 is pushed to February/March 2022.

Any further updates, application forms and other related details regarding these examinations will be released by the Board later separately. Candidates can refer to the official websites of NBEMS, http://www.natboard.edu.in, and http://nbe.edu.in, for the same. Candidates can also write to NBEMS via its Communications Web Portal in case of any queries, clarifications, and assistance regarding the exams and new tentative calendar.

However, the new exam notification has sparked concerns from different corners with regard to the safety of students attending the examination at a time when the country is expected to face the third wave of Covid-19 infection. However, in a written reply to the Parliament on July 23, 2021, the Union government said that the exams will be conducted as per the released schedules and will be held with all precautionary measures and strictly following the Covid-19 protocols.

The ministry has also released a list of protective measures which will be adopted for candidates and examination personnel. These are listed below:

• To avoid the crowding and long travel by candidates, the government has increased the number of examination centres.
• NEET admit card will have a COVID e-pass for easy movement of students.
• The body temperature of all candidates will be checked. Aspirants whose temperature will be above normal, they will be allowed to take the NEET UG and PG exam in the isolation labs.
• Wearing a face mask will be mandatory. Candidates will be provided with a protective gear safety kit containing a face shield, face mask and hand sanitiser.

In addition to this, proper guidelines will be followed to control the crowd outside the centres.

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