Over 10,000 MBBS aspirants have written to the National Testing Agency (NTA) demanding that the medical entrance exam NEET be postponed as its scheduled date is too close to other competitive exams.

The crucial exam is scheduled to be held on July 17 this year. In the letter, the MBBS aspirants said the date for this year's National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) has been announced, even though counselling for last year's exam hasn't finished.

"Many NEET aspirants and droppers from 2021 waited till the mop-up round of NEET 2021 counselling in the hope of getting a medical seat but didn't get one. The mop-up round ended in the first week of April... in many states, state counselling is not finished till now," the letter stated.

"This year, many students could not calculate their percentage of getting a seat due to the changed reservation policy in NEET 2021 counselling and suddenly after three days, NTA announced on April 6 that NEET 2022 will be conducted on 17 July 2022," the letter read.

It said umpteen droppers and freshers will not get enough time to prepare for NEET. Last year's exam was initially scheduled for August 1 but was postponed to September 12 due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Also, CUET is scheduled for 1st and 2nd weeks of July and JEE mains second attempt is scheduled from 21 July 2022. In between NEET on 17 July will be a great burden for students."

"Pursuing MBBS is a dream of lakhs of students and the emotions of their parents and teachers are connected therewith. But due to this declaration of premature dates, they are starting to give up on their dreams. Please allocate them an adequate amount of time so that they can prepare well for the exam," the letter stated.

The Supreme Court had last week dismissed petitions seeking postponement of the 2022 NEET-Post Graduate examinations, saying any change to the May 21 date "will create chaos and uncertainty and deficiency of doctors in hospitals".