NTA website skips new Medical Council of India rules for differently abled pupils

The online submission of application form of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (UG)-2019 begins on Thursday till November 30. However, Dr Satendra Singh, MD and founder, Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change, alleged that National Testing Agency’s online brochure still has old guidelines given by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for Persons with Specified Disabilities.

While aspirants have started filing their online NEET forms, Dr Singh mentioned that the brochure on NTA website does not have new guidelines for Persons with Specified Disabilities in eligibility criteria which were presented in front of the Supreme Court. The NEET exam will be held on May 5 between 2 pm and 5pm as per the NTA brochure.

A senior official from Medical Council Committee said, “The details will be updated within 10-15 days.”

Dr Singh said it is discriminatory for NTA to start the online application process for NEET 2019 without any clarity on guidelines for candidates with disabilities. “This will give undue advantage to non-disabled candidates. The NEET brochure is still containing the old details of the Disability Assessment Boards, constituted at the four metro cities,” he said, adding, “After many court cases, these were increased to nine.” 

Dr Singh has requested government authorities to halt the process till there is clarity on the guidelines and it is uploaded on NEET (UG) 2019 and MCI, MCC (Medical Counselling Committee andMOHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) websites.

WHAT IS NTA

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has set up ‘National Testing Agency’ (NTA), (www.nta.ac.in) a premier testing Agency, to conduct computer-based entrance examinations, for higher educational Institutions