NEET-PG Qualifying Percentile Reduced to Zero

NEET-PG Qualifying Percentile Reduced to Zero | Meaning, Cause & Likely Impact

Sept. 25, 2023

Why in News?

Recently, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) reduced to zero the qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2023 to be eligible for counselling across all categories.

What’s in Today’s Article?

NEET PG Admissions (Process, Vacant Seats in 2023, Reduced Eligibility, Reasons, Impact, etc.)

How Admissions Take Place in NEET PG?

A merit list is automatically generated for all candidates nationwide based on their NEET PG test scores.
- The National Eligibility Entrance Test (Postgraduate) is a qualifying and ranking examination in India, for students who wish to study various postgraduate Doctor of Medicine, Master of Surgery, among other such courses.
This list is used to allocate 50% of the post-graduate seats available under the all-India quota.
Each state also prepares a similar merit list for the remaining 50% of post-graduate seats, which are allocated by the states themselves.
The list can be expanded when eligibility criteria change, with the cut-off typically lowered by five or ten percentile points toward the end of the counselling process if seats remain vacant.

How Many Seats Remained Vacant This Year?

This year, over 13,000 PG seats in medical colleges across India remain vacant even after two rounds of counselling.
In light of this, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC),which functions under the MoHFW, announced that the eligibility for the vacant seats this year has been set to zero percentile.
A new opportunity for Fresh Registration and Choice Filling will be made available for Round-3 of PG Counselling.
This will apply to candidates who have now become eligible following the reduction of the percentile requirement.

All NEET-PG Examinees Will Now be Eligible For These Vacant Seats?

With the elimination of the eligibility cut-off, any candidate who has taken the NEET-PG test, including those who obtained negative marks, is now eligible to apply for post-graduate medical courses.
However, only because people are eligible with zero marks or negative marks does not mean that they will get seats.
Approximately 2.25 lakh candidates appeared for the NEET-PG test, but there are only about 68,000 post-graduate seats available in the country.
Hence, only a limited number of students can and will be admitted.

Is This the First Time Such a Change Has Occurred?

The eligibility cut-off has never before been reduced to zero since the introduction of NEET since 2013.
Before the advent of NEET, eligibility for inter-state post-graduate courses was determined by MBBS final scores.
Essentially, anyone who had passed MBBS before NEET was eligible for post-graduate courses.
The purpose of NEET was to establish a standardized method for determining inter-state and national-level merit lists, as examination standards varied across states.

Why Has This Decision Been Made by the MoHFW?

The primary motive behind this decision is to address the issue of vacant post-graduate seats.
Typically, MCC conducts three rounds of counselling and a stray vacancy round to fill these seats.
However, despite these efforts, a significant number of seats have remained vacant over the years.
In the previous academic years, there were 3,744 vacant seats after all rounds of counselling in 2021-22 and 1,425 seats in 2020-21.
This year, there are at least 13,245 vacant seats following the first two rounds of counselling.
The results for the third round will be announced by the end of the month, reflecting the new eligibility criteria.
The health ministry official highlights that most of the vacant seats are in non-clinical specialties, such as anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology, and pharmacology.
- These are the areas that do not directly involve patient treatment.

Has the Increase in Post-Graduate Seats Affected These Vacancies?

The medical fraternity believes that the substantial increase in post-graduate seats could be a factor in the current high vacancy rate.
While it may appear advantageous in the short term, in the long run, this could result in a demand-supply mismatch, similar to the situation faced by engineering graduates.
Data from the Union Health Minister indicates that the number of post-graduate seats increased to 64,059 for the 2022-23 session and further to nearly 68,000 for the current session.
- Earlier, in the 2020-21 academic session, there were 55,495 post-graduate seats

Likely Impact on Private Medical Colleges:

The change in eligibility is likely to result in affluent candidates gaining admission to private colleges, even if their scores are lower than those of other applicants.
This is because annual fees for post-graduate programs in government colleges may be as low as Rs 5,000 to 10,000, fees at private colleges can reach up to a crore.
This means that meritorious students who cannot afford the high fees may be left behind, while those with lower scores can secure admission to private colleges if they have the financial means.
While reducing cut-off opens up opportunities for a wider range of candidates, challenges such as seat availability, potential disparities in admissions, etc.
Also, the impact on private colleges need to be carefully considered and addressed to ensure the fairness and effectiveness of the medical education system.