NEW DELHI: The NEET-UG counselling for 2025 is scheduled to begin on July 21. However, thousands of medical students with disabilities are in a dilemma as they are still awaiting the revised admission guidelines.It is not just the revised disability guidelines that the National Medical Commission (NMC) has yet to release, despite Supreme Court directions to issue them much before the MBBS admission process was to begin. There is no clarity on the number of disability assessment centres, which evaluate individuals with disabilities, determine their needs and eligibility, and accordingly reissue disability certificates.Speaking with this paper, Dr Satendra Singh, a prominent disability activist, said, “The NMC recently issued guidelines on student mental health, but what about the extreme stress, anxiety, and uncertainty faced by approximately 3,673 NEET-qualified candidates with disabilities?”“The continued delay in issuing revised disability guidelines directly violates at least three Supreme Court judgments. Shouldn’t the Supreme Court initiate contempt proceedings against the NMC and the DGHS (Directorate General of Health Services) for their willful non-compliance?”Dr Singh, who has been besieged by calls and messages from parents and anxious students suffering from disabilities like locomotor disability, visual impairment, hearing impairment, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) etc, which was to be included in the new guidelines as mandated by the apex court, said NMC should have placed these guidelines at least a month before the admission process was to begin to allow stakeholders to give their feedback.
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