Despite Zero Cut-off Percentile for NEET-PG, 484 Non-Clinical Seats Lying Vacant in Karnataka

Bengaluru: Despite the zero cut-off percentile in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) Examination, several non-clinical PG medical seats are lying vacant in Karnataka.

There are only a few takers for these courses even though several medical colleges across Karnataka have offered these seats for free. Meanwhile, all the seats in the clinical category have been filled.

NEET PG Counselling was completed on October 25 and as per the data by Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), 484 non clinical seats could not be filled. Among these, 90 seats are in Anatomy, 88 in Microbiology, and 86 in Biochemistry. Besides, seats in non-clinical subjects such as Pharmacology also went vacant.

Explaining that the seats are vacant despite the zero cut-off percentile, the Executive Director of KEA, Ramya S said, "While we tried to convince the students it is important for them to pick up these subjects, too, they continued to surrender the seats."

Also Read: Altogether 860 MBBS, 12758 PG Medical Seats Remained Vacant in the Last Three Years: MoS Health

However, the official pointed out that the number of seats that have been filled this year are greater than last year and added, "Last year, 802 seats were vacant after counselling. This year, some more non-clinical were picked up. This is because of the zero-fee offer made by several colleges. The zero minimum percentile also made a difference."

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) offered a major relief to the Postgraduate medical aspirants and reduced the cut-off for qualifying percentile for NEET-PG 2023 to "Zero" across all categories.

Writing to the Secretary of the Apex Medical Commission, the Union Health Ministry informed, "I am directed to refer to the above-mentioned subject and to say that the recommendation for a reduction in qualifying percentile for Post Graduate 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. This issues with the approval of competent authority," the Ministry further informed.

Previously, the cutoff for the first two rounds of counselling was 50 for the unreserved category, 45 for PwD category and 40 for reserved-category students. However, due to the Health Ministry's decision to lower the cutoff to zero across all categories, all those who appeared for the test became eligible to appear in the counselling.

However, as per the latest media report by the Times of India, despite the Zero cut-off percentile and the fact that several medical colleges are offering the non-clinical seats for free, several seats are lying vacant.

Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre is one of the medical colleges that have offered free medical seats. Apart from offering its pre-clinical and para-clinical seats free of cost, this medical college has also offered a free lodging-and-boarding facility, along with a monthly stipend of Rs 35,000.

Referring to the vacant seats, the Chairperson of Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, DA Kalpaja told the Times of India, "These para-clinical seats are going vacant for the past three years." He further added, "With this [free] scheme, we were able to fill up at least some of the vacant seats. However, pre-clinical courses such as Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry still couldn’t attract students."

Meanwhile, the authorities of BGS Global Institute of Medical Sciences informed that they could not attract students even with the offer of free seats. The principal of the institute, Dr. ME Mohan added, "We were ready to waive off the fees for interested students. Yet, we have no students for these courses."

Also Read: PG Medical Admissions: Is Zero percentile compromising merit?