The National Medical Commission (NMC) on behalf of the advisory by the Health Ministry has reduced the qualifying percentile cut-off for the NEET PG to "zero" across all categories. This came as a huge relief to all the postgraduate medical students, which simultaneously allowed those who became eligible following the percentile reduction to modify their selections.

In a letter to the health ministry, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) requested a lowering of the NEET PG Cut off to prevent medical colleges from having empty seats and to allow meritorious students to participate in postgraduate programs.

Why was the Eligibility Reduced?

This decision was made in the wake of filling up the vacant 13,000 seats across PG medical colleges across the country. The NEET-PG cut-off percentage for candidates in the general category was previously 50%. While for the reserved category candidates, the cutoff percentile was set at 40%.

According to data from the health ministry, after all counselling rounds, a total of 3,744 seats out of 60,202 were still vacant in 2022. There were 1,425 out of 55,495 and 4,614 out of 54,275 vacant seats available in the academic years 2021 and 2020 respectively. For the academic session of 2023, even after the first two rounds of counselling, there were still a total of 13,245 vacant seats.

According to a list of vacant seats made public by MCC for virtual counselling of round 3, there are a total of 1,743 general medicine seats, 723 general surgery seats, 1,459 obstetrics & gynaecology seats, and 1,604 anaesthesia seats available. Apart from this, there are a total of 181 vacant seats in microbiology, 144 in pharmacology, 81 in biochemistry, and 33 in anatomy.

Why are there so Many Vacant Seats?

The rise in postgraduate medical colleges across the nation has been one of the major causes of vacant seats. By 2024, the government is expected to create a massive 80,000 PG medical seats. According to the Union Health Minister, the number of seats in medical institutes almost doubled in 2014 and reportedly expanded by 105% over the previous eight years by the end of 2022. According to him, postgraduate seats doubled from 31,000 to 64,000, while the medical seats increased from 53,000 to 96,000.

Criticism for Zero Eligibility Criteria

The Ministry of Health's notice regarding the NEET PG cut-off criteria was criticised by the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA). It was however added that this step might lead to more seats in private medical institutions being traded. Government colleges may charge as little as INR 5,000 in annual fees, but private medical colleges may charge up to INR 1 Crore for the same degree. It is feared that this could lead to a situation in which students with better grades but are unable to pay extravagant fees will be denied the chance to further their education, while students from higher-income homes who have lower grades could be allowed to complete their graduate degrees. According to a government medical college professor who spoke with Indian Express, it would resemble a "reverse economic quota".