Sources confirm that Indian medical students are today sitting a resit of the NEET PG exam under unprecedented security measures, following a massive leak that compromised the original test. The National Testing Agency has deployed biometric verification, CCTV surveillance, and metal detectors at centres across the country. UK universities that accept NEET PG scores for postgraduate placements are now scrambling to assess the integrity of applicants' results.
Documents obtained by this desk reveal that the leak, first detected in May, involved question papers being circulated on encrypted messaging apps hours before the exam. Over 2,000 candidates are believed to have accessed the material. The NTA has since cancelled the original results and mandated a retake for all affected students.
At one centre in Delhi, candidates queued from 5am, their fingerprints scanned against a centralised database. A source inside the NTA said: 'We are leaving nothing to chance. Every invigilator has been trained to spot irregularities. Anyone caught with a phone is disqualified immediately.'
But the fallout extends far beyond India's borders. UK universities, including King's College London and the University of Manchester, have historically accepted NEET PG scores for international students applying to clinical courses. An internal memo from a Russell Group university, seen by this reporter, warns: 'We must verify that the resit results are genuine. If the leak compromised the original cohort, we cannot rely on any single test score.'
The British Council has been contacted for comment. A spokesperson said only: 'We are monitoring the situation and advising institutions to request additional evidence of competence.'
This is not the first time a major Indian exam has been breached. In 2018, the CTET paper was hacked, forcing a retest. But the scale of this leak, and the involvement of postgraduate medical places, raises questions about the NTA's ability to safeguard high-stakes assessments.
For the students, the resit is a high-wire act. Many travelled hundreds of miles to assigned centres. One candidate, who asked not to be named, said: 'We are all terrified. Some of us had no part in the leak, but we are being punished anyway. The pressure is immense.'
Further analysis of the leaked papers, obtained from a dark web forum, shows that the questions were identical to those in the official exam. That suggests the source may have been inside the printing press or the NTA's own servers.
As the resit proceeds, UK universities are demanding transparency. The General Medical Council in London has warned that any doctor found to have used fraudulent results could face fitness-to-practise proceedings. The message is clear: integrity is non-negotiable. The NTA says results will be published within 15 days. Whether those results will be trusted remains an open question.
