More than 18,000 postgraduate medical seats remained vacant in government and private medical colleges across India despite the completion of the second round of counselling, prompting the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to revise the qualifying percentiles for the postgraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-PG) 2025 admissions, a senior Health Ministry official said.
The NBEMS said the qualifying percentile cut-off for the third round of the NEET-PG counselling had been reduced to zero from 40 for reserved categories.
This means that all candidates who appeared for the exam, including those who scored in negative (there is negative marking for wrong answers) are now eligible to take part in counselling.
The cut-off for thegeneral category has been reduced to seven percentile from 50, in accordance with the directions of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The Ministry added that there had been no dilution of academic standards as the revised percentile merely expanded eligibility among already-qualified MBBS doctors.
A senior doctor on condition of anonymity said, “Dilution at entry is bound to give a substandard product. And here we are talking about specialists… this will be harmful to the health of the society at large.”
