A day after the state government announced that the Uttar Pradesh Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination (UPPGMEE) 2013 cannot be cancelled, medical graduates opposing the exam have decided to go on a protest from Wednesday.
The students were demanding cancellation of UPPGMEE on the grounds that they had already taken the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). Since both had a similar aim, there was no point taking the other and termed it as wastage of efforts and resources and also met chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to stress their point.
Speaking on behalf of other students, Kapil Singh Varma, a student of King George's Medical University (KGMU), said, "The students told the CM that we were left with no other option." Another student Bhupendra Singh stated that the pattern of National eligibility and entrance test and UPPGMEE were different. "We got only 40 days time to prepare for UPPGMEE which is too short a period considering we have to prepare 20 different subjects," he said.
Students questioned as to why was UP government adamant about holding UPPGMEE when it has already given its consent to admit students on the basis of NEET scores. "The order of the apex court will be valid for the entire country. So, why does UP want to become an exception by holding PGME exam," said a student. In this regard, senior officials in the medical education department have already said that comparing UP with other states was not wise. "The scale of anything gets big here," they stated.
Medical students at UP ready to meet the Governer
Meanwhile, the students on Wednesday started a demonstration outside the King George's Medical University to press for their demands. Sticking to their stand, the students said there was no point in holding a state level exam again when the government has agreed to allot postgraduate seats through the scores obtained in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
Director general medical education Dr KK Gupta, however, said the state government cannot do anything on the issue as it was only complying with the orders of the Supreme Court in this regard.