NEET PG 2026 Row: With cut-off lowered to ‘minus 40’ to fill 18,000 vacant seats, doctors warn of falling standards

“It (NEET PG Counselling process) leaving such a large number of seats vacant (estimated 18,000 after round 2) defeats this objective and results in wastage of valuable national medical education resources,” said NMC in a statement.

The NMC’s note also stated that “the non-filling of seats is not due to a lack of eligibility or competence, but because of the current qualifying percentile criteria,” which has limited the pool of eligible candidates, despite the presence of many vacant seats. It was further decided to “reduce the qualifying percentile for NEET-PG admissions” to expand the pool of eligible candidates and help fill these vacant seats.

However, it leaves out the question of ‘quality-candidates’ pursuing specialisations after MBBS, merely keeping minimum eligibility as the criterion.

Why is it concerning doctors’ bodies?

As per the revised norms, candidates from the SC, ST, and OBC categories are now eligible for counselling with a qualifying percentile of ‘0’, corresponding to a cut-off score of ‘–40’ out of 800. For candidates in the unreserved category, the qualifying percentile has been lowered from the earlier 50th percentile to the 7th percentile, with the revised cut-off score now set at 103. For unreserved candidates with benchmark disabilities (PwBD), the qualifying percentile has been reduced to 5, with a corresponding cut-off score of 90. The revised eligibility applies to candidates participating in round 3 of NEET PG 2025 counselling and all subsequent rounds, including the stray vacancy round.

The NEET PG examination structure follows a negative marking scheme: one mark is deducted for every incorrect response, making it possible for candidates to secure a negative overall score. Despite this, such candidates will now be eligible to participate in counselling, subject to seat availability and category-wise reservation norms.

Reacting to the unprecedented cut-off reduction, Dr Rohan Krishnan, President of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), said the decision reflects deeper structural issues in postgraduate medical education and poor seat planning, rather than a genuine attempt to address specialty-wise shortages.

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While the government has previously acknowledged that certain non-clinical and para-clinical subjects, such as anatomy and physiology, attract fewer candidates, he said that an extreme cut-off reduction does little to resolve this imbalance. “A marginal relaxation of 5–10 percent could have encouraged uptake in less preferred branches. A minus 40 cut-off sends a very different signal,” he said.

Echoing similar concerns, the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Associations (FORDA) has written to Union Health Minister J P Nadda, expressing strong disappointment over the move. In its letter, FORDA warned that diluting cut-offs risks allowing underprepared candidates into postgraduate training, which could ultimately impact patient care. The association also alleged that the decision disproportionately benefits private medical colleges by enabling them to fill seats with lower-scoring candidates, charging exorbitant fees, placing institutional profit over student welfare.

“With public trust already strained by past controversies, lowering cut-offs further erodes the perception of doctors as highly skilled professionals. Patients deserve merit-based specialists, not diluted standards,” the letter said.

FORDA has sought Nadda’s immediate intervention to reverse the cut-off decision and restore the original qualifying criteria based on empirical data and expert assessment.

Revised NEET PG 2025 cut-off %-tile and score

The decision to lower the cut-off is closely linked to seat utilisation concerns. MCC conducts counselling for 50 per cent of All India Quota (AIQ) seats for MD, MS, and PG Diploma courses in medical colleges across the country, excluding Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Jammu and Kashmir. Two rounds of counselling have already been completed. However, a substantial number of seats remained vacant after round 2 reporting, which concluded in late December 2025.

According to MCC data, of the 32,215 seats available in round 2, as many as 17,623 were clear vacancies — seats that were either never allotted or left unjoined. Another 11,837 seats were categorised as virtual vacancies arising from seat upgrades, while 135 seats were newly added.

Dr Krishnan argued that the cut-off reduction will primarily benefit private medical colleges, particularly those charging extremely high fees for clinical PG seats. “Private colleges are charging up to Rs 2 crore per seat, with nearly 200 seats still vacant. This represents a potential turnover of Rs 400–500 crore,” he said, adding that such reductions have historically been used to ensure these seats do not remain unfilled.

‘Increase PG seats but don’t lower the cut-off’

The broader context of postgraduate seat availability was shared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during the Winter Session of Parliament in December last year. In a written response, the ministry stated that India has a total of 80,291 postgraduate medical seats for the 2025–26 academic year across government and private institutions. Of these, 37,282 seats are in government medical colleges, and 25,302 seats are in private medical colleges. An additional 17,707 seats are available across DNB, DrNB, FNB, and Post-MBBS Diploma programmes.

A third-year medical student at a government medical college in West Bengal said that the expansion of postgraduate seats is a positive step, as it not only helps ease excessive competition but could also strengthen staffing levels in the healthcare system over a longer span of time. However, the student also added that the manner in which seats are being filled is equally important.

“Increasing the number of PG seats every year is beneficial for us students aiming to secure admission in top institutions, because the number of graduates seeking PG seats is already disproportionately high,” the student said. “But lowering the cut-offs to zero or even negative percentiles does not help in maintaining a healthy or fair competition.”

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The student added, “If someone secures a top medical college after putting in longer hours of studying while juggling internships and work, that achievement should not be diluted by admitting candidates who have scored significantly lower. The gap then becomes too wide, and it discourages merit rather than rewarding it.”

Notably, the seat pool has continued to expand. For the 2025–26 session, the NMC approved an additional 171 postgraduate seats across key clinical and diagnostic specialties, including general medicine, general surgery, anaesthesiology, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, radiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, orthopaedics, respiratory medicine, and pathology.

What corrective measures can be taken?

Questioning this approach, Dr Krishnan said repeated seat expansion despite persistent vacancies only deepens the problem. Echoing this concern, Dr Dhruv Chauhan of the IMA Junior Doctors’ Network said the repeated lowering of cut-offs appears aimed at protecting the commercial viability of private medical colleges rather than strengthening public healthcare or addressing specialty shortages.

Dr Krishnan also warned of global implications. “Medicine is a global profession. Indian doctors work across the world. Such drastic cut-off reductions undermine the credibility of Indian medical education and are deeply embarrassing at an international level,” he said.

FORDA has called for the constitution of a high-level committee comprising representatives from the National Medical Commission, NBE and resident doctors to review and standardise cut-off policies transparently, and to ensure stakeholder consultation before future policy changes.

Another activist, Dr Dhruv Chauhan of the IMA Junior Doctors’ Network, questioned the logic of expanding PG capacity when vacancies already persist. He pointed out that despite unfilled seats in previous years, more seats were added, and that only in December last year, around 170 additional PG seats were approved again.

According to him, the repeated cut-off reductions are not aimed at correcting imbalances in specialty preference or strengthening the public health system, but at ensuring that private medical college seats remain commercially viable for years to come.