'No NEET-PG eligibility cut-off, counselling to continue till all seats filled'

NEW DELHI: The counselling sessions for NEET PG will be carried out till all seats are filled in postgraduate medical courses, official sources at the Ministry of Health said on Friday while clarifying that there is no eligibility cut-off to ensure that all seats are filled. The official sources at the Ministry of Health said that removing qualifying cut-off does not mean that candidates with zero percentile will get a seat.

The clarification comes amid criticism after the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), responsible for allotting the post-graduation seats for medical education through the NEET-PG exam, announced a "reduction in the qualifying percentile for Postgraduate courses across all categories to zero". The counselling for PG medical courses is underway. Over 13,000 PG seats across the country remain vacant at present even after two rounds of counselling.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Postgraduates is a crucial medical entrance examination in India for admission to postgraduate medical programmes like MD, MS and DNB. The sources said that because of the qualifying percentile several seats in colleges used to remain vacant. There were demands for the reduction in the NEET-PG 2023 cut-off criteria.

"There is speculation going on that students with 0 percentile can also become specialist doctors. This is not true. The meritorious students will also be eligible for admission as per their choice, similar to before. However, now counselling sessions will continue till all the seats are filled to ensure no seats remain vacant," the sources said. "More than 2,10,000 students have applied for NEET PG. Only the top 68,142 students with merit will also be able to get admission," the sources added.

A rank is assigned to all students at the all-India level based on the marks they have scored on the test. 50 per cent of PG seats are allotted under the all-India quota while the rest of the 50 per cent seats allotment is done by states. The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) conducts three rounds of counselling to fill the seats. However, due to the high eligibility cut-off, a number of seats remain vacant every year.

In a notification early this week, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) said the eligibility for the seats still vacant this year will be zero percentile. "The qualifying percentile for NEET PG Counselling 2023 has been reduced to 'ZERO' across all categories by MoHFW. In this regard, it is mentioned that Fresh Registration and Choice Filling for Round-3 of PG Counselling will be opened again for candidates who have become eligible after reduction of percentile," the notice from MCC read.

A number of medical bodies and political leaders expressed disapproval of the notice, saying "It is ridiculous to see zero percentile candidates are eligible for getting a postgraduate seat".