Health Minister Mandaviya makes surprise visit to NEET-PG exam centre in Patiala

New Delhi/Chandigarh, Mar 5 (PTI) Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Sunday made a surprise visit to review the security arrangements at a NEET-PG exam centre in Patiala.

He also interacted with the candidates’ parents during his visit.

This is the first time that the Union Health minister has visited a National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) exam centre during an examination, a ministry statement said.

“Visited NEET-PG exam centre in Patiala, Punjab, and took stock of the arrangements,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

He appeared satisfied with the arrangements and extended his best wishes to the students appearing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-PG exams.

“I had the opportunity to interact with parents of students during my visit at the Patiala exam centre. I wish them all the best for the exam today,” Mandviya said.

Mandaviya also paid obeisance at the Shri Kali Devi Mandir and Gurudwara Shri Dukhniwaran Sahib in Patiala.

The NBEMS conducted NEET-PG, 2023, on a computer-based platform for 2,08,898 candidates at 902 examination centres in 277 cities.

As a part of NBEMS’s zero-tolerance policy against unfair means, strict vigilance is being observed at all the examination centres, including but not limited to biometric verification, CCTV surveillance, document verification, mobile phone jammers…, the Union Health ministry statement said.

NBEMS chief Dr Abhijat Sheth monitored the conduct of the exam from the command centre in Ahmedabad.

A command centre was also set up at NBEMS’s Dwarka office to monitor the examination and resolve the issues of candidates. The command centre also received live feed from various test centres. A police checkpost and medical assistance rooms were also set up as part of an emergency response team.

A surveillance command centre set up by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Mumbai was manned by 10 associates with state-of-the-art technology.

A dedicated security command centre was also set up in Patna while regional command centres monitored operational parameters to ensure that the exam commenced and finished on time.

All the state governments were asked to provide adequate security and uninterrupted power supply at all exam centres.