All candidates who appeared for the NEET PG 2023 exam will now become eligible to participate in the postgraduate medical counselling process.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) today reduced the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET PG) 2023 qualifying percentile to zero across all categories. This means all candidates who appeared for the NEET PG 2023 exam will now become eligible to participate in the postgraduate medical counselling process.

A Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) statement issued in this regard said: “..the recommendation for reduction in qualifying percentile for postgraduate courses for 2023 (NEET PG 2023) has been considered in the Ministry.”

“Approval of competent authority is hereby conveyed for reduction of qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2023 to ‘Zero’ across all categories,” it added.

“Admission to all the postgraduate seats will filled in accordance with the NEET PG counselling norms,” Dr Gupta added reiterating that the students have already cleared the rigorous syllabus of MBBS.

While the counselling committee and the administering bodies have welcomed the decision to reduce the cut-off to zero, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has condemned the decision. 

FAIMA president Dr Rohan Krishnan in a video message said: “The decision to lower the cut-off to 0 has made a mockery of the standard of medical education and healthcare system in India. It will only promote corruption and high fee in private medical colleges.” 

The NEET PG cut-off percentile was 50th for unreserved categories, 45th for PwD categories and 40th for reserved category students. 

Interestingly, the NEET PG cut-off for general category candidates reduced from the 50th percentile to 35th in 2022. The cut-off for unreserved PwD candidates dropped from 45th percentile to 20th percentile and for students belonging under SC, ST and OBC (including PwD of SC, ST, OBC), the cut-off reduced to 20th percentile from 40th.

The IMA in a letter to the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare on September 13 had urged the minister to reconsider the cut-off criteria to include more number of students in PG and reduce wastage of seats.

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(Source: indianexpress.com)