900 NEET SS seats still vacant: Doctors demand Another Mop-up round

New Delhi: Pointing out that more than 900 super-specialty seats are lying vacant even after the NEET SS Mop up round, the doctors under the umbrella of Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) have recently urged the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) to conduct another mop-up round for filling up the vacant seats.

Writing to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), FORDA pointed out that NEET SS seats are a national asset and should not go vacant. With this, the association urged the DGHS for conducting another mop-up round "in the larger interest of students and citizens who stand to benefit immensely from having more super-specialty doctors in the country."

Speaking to Medical Dialogues in this regard, the General Secretary of FORDA, Dr. Sarvesh Pandey added, "Some students approached the Supreme Court and sought permission for leaving seats. After the Supreme Court agreed to their prayers, now more students have filed such pleas seeking similar relief."

"The Supreme Court had also said that such seats should be added to the mop up round. In India, the super specialist doctor to patient ratio is 1: 4000. So we want that these seats get filled up and they do not get wasted," he further added.

Providing further details regarding these 900 seats that are still lying vacant, Dr Pandey informed that most of these seats belong to private institutes and there are some government seats as well.

Also Read: Over 1000 super-specialty seats vacant, FORDA demands NEET SS mop-up round after reducing cut-off

Previously, FORDA had urged the authorities for conducting a mop-up round while pointing out that more than 1000 seats were lying vacant. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the association had referred to the fact that more than 1000 Super Specialty seats remained unfilled even after the completion of Round 1 and Round 2 of NEET SS 2022 Counselling.

In this regard, FORDA had written to DGHS, operative under the Union Health Ministry and pointed out that wastage of seats is a "significant academic and healthcare loss".

Referring to this, the association mentioned in the recent letter, "As you are aware the NEET exam was conducted last year and two counselling rounds were held to fill up the available scats. However even after these two rounds, around 1500 seats remained vacant."

"In this regard, we had earlier communicated with your respected office and Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) requesting them to conduct a mop-up round to fill up these vacant seats. Subsequently, a notification was issued in February to conduct a mop-up round wherein the qualification cut-off was also decreased," further mentioned the letter.

The association pointed out that back in February, the Supreme Court bench had allowed some candidates (6) who were allotted seats in the first two rounds to surrender their seats and exit the counselling process. Accordingly, issuing a notification on February 14, 2023, the authorities had included those seats in the mop up round as well.

"Despite these efforts around 500+ (900 as per our data) seats are still vacant. Additionally, more students have filed petitions seeking similar relief, awaiting a judgment," FORDA mentioned in the recent letter to DGHS.

Reiterating that NEET SS seats are a national asset and they should not go vacant, FORDA urged the DGHS to take cognizance of the matter and find an amicable solution to this problem.

It has been suggested by the association that another mop-up round should be considered in the larger interest of the students and citizens who stand to benefit immensely from having more super-specialty doctors in the country.

"Furthermore, in our efforts to prevent seat wastage, it is our earnest request that the seats which were not joined by the candidates to whom they were allotted, be also made a part of this mop-up round, thereby adding to the seat pool. A provision for the same may be initiated by your esteemed office to facilitate them to relinquish their seat in case they do not continue with it," the letter further mentioned.