Some MBBS graduates from Kerala preparing for the August 30 postgraduate National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-PG) were in a for a shock on Tuesday night when they received details of their allotted exam centres. When the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) sent SMS and email alerts, many candidates in Kerala found out that they had been allotted centres in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

The messages left candidates worried. Calls and messages passed between them as they tried to find out if they would really have to travel across the country to write the examination. Some began checking train and flight options and working out how to reach the cities they had been allotted. “I instantly decided not to write the examination when I got the exam centre in Bihar,” said Fatima Shahana, who had been preparing for the exam for the past year. “My shock lasted only a few minutes.”

Their worries soon gave way to relief. When candidates checked the NBEMS website, they found that their exam cities had been revised. Many had been given centres within their own State. Candidates in northern States, too, had initially received Kerala and Tamil Nadu as their test cities. “After the initial shock around 11.15 p.m., I got the correct email and SMS around 1 a.m.,” said Tamanna Latheef, who had initially been allotted Hassan in Karnataka. “Now it is my hometown, Malappuram,” she said.

NBEMS later said that some candidates had received incorrect test city details through SMS and email because of a technical error. The board said the correct details had been sent to the affected candidates through SMS and email. For candidates who had spent months preparing for the examination, the mix-up brought a new worry just weeks before the test: how to travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres to an unfamiliar city while keeping up with their preparation. The NEET PG 2026 examination is scheduled for August 30. NBEMS has advised candidates to check its website regularly for updates.

Published - August 12, 2026 08:41 pm IST