In a move that has ignited both applause and criticism, the Union health ministry in India has decided to allow all doctors who took the National Eligibility and Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET-PG) medical courses in 2023 to seek admission, irrespective of their test scores. The ministry’s announcement, made on Wednesday, revealed that the qualifying percentile for NEET-PG counselling 2023 has been reduced to zero across all categories, effectively making all candidates who appeared for the test eligible for admission.
As a result of this decision, a fresh registration and choice-filling round will be opened for the candidates who have become eligible due to the percentile reduction. The ministry stated, “Candidates who have become freshly eligible can register and participate in round-3 of counselling.”
The move comes on the heels of a plea by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the country’s largest body of doctors, which had urged the ministry to lower the qualifying percentile for NEET-PG 2023 from 50 to 30. Their objective was to ensure that all postgraduate seats in medical colleges would be assigned, addressing the ongoing issue of vacancies. Over the past three years, data indicate that 3,000 to 4,000 PG seats have remained vacant out of a nationwide pool of 55,000 to 64,000 seats. Lowering the cutoff was seen as a means to encourage more doctors to pursue PG courses and prevent any seats from going vacant.
The ministry’s decision to reduce the qualifying percentile to zero surpasses the threshold of 30 requested by the IMA. “We welcome this order — filling up PG seats means we will have more faculty for our medical colleges in the years to come,” stated IMA national president Sharadh Agarwal.
However, not everyone is in favor of the move. Members of the Federation of All India Medical Associations (FAIMA), a nationwide network of postgraduate residents and doctors, have criticized the decision, arguing that it undermines merit and primarily benefits private colleges that charge high fees.
Rohan Krishnan, FAIMA national chairman, expressed concerns that the zero percentile cutoff would allow even students with negative marks in the NEET-PG to be eligible for admission. He remarked, “We’ve never ever seen such an order before. This means anyone who took the test and can afford the high fees can join a PG course.” Krishnan and others believe that the ministry’s decision may be intended to assist private medical colleges in filling seats that would otherwise remain vacant.
The order has also faced sarcastic comments from some doctors, with one asking, “I wonder, if seats are still vacant, will (they) be offered to those who could not or forgot to appear in the NEET PG exam?”
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has supported the reduction of the NEET-PG qualifying percentile to zero, emphasizing that it will lead to the allocation of all clinical and non-clinical seats. Admission to these postgraduate seats will follow the NEET PG counselling norms.
