NEET SS 2023 Counselling qualifying percentile Reduced to Zero

New Delhi: After the NEET-PG exam, now the cut-off percentile for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Super Speciality (NEET-SS) 2023 exam has also been reduced to zero across all categories.

With this, all the candidates who completed their PG degree and appeared in the NEET-SS 2023 examination would now be considered eligible to participate in further rounds of counselling to fill up the vacant super speciality seats.

Issuing a notice on 22.01.2024, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) notified about the reduction in the qualifying percentile for a special round of NEET-SS 2023 counselling. This decision to reduce the cut-off has been taken by the authorities when hundreds of super-speciality seats are reportedly lying vacant across the country.

Referring to the NEET-SS 2023 exam, which was conducted on 29th and 30th September 2023 and the results for which were declared on 15.10.2023, NBEMS mentioned in the notice, "Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India vide letter No. U.12021/08/2023-MEC dated 20th January, 2024 has allowed all the candidates who have completed their PG Degree as per NMC norms and have taken NEET-SS 2023 exam for the academic year 2023 would be “ELIGIBLE” to participate in the upcoming special round of NEET-SS Counselling."

"Candidature is purely provisional subject of fulfilment of eligibility criteria as mentioned in NEET-SS 2023 Information Bulleting and verification of their Face ID/Biometric wherever required," the notice further mentioned. However, NBE has clarified that "there is no change in NEET-SS rank as declared on 15.10.2023." 

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in the case of NEET SS 2022 also, the eligibility criteria had been reduced from 50 percentile to 20 percentile. This move came against the backdrop of over 1000 super speciality seats being vacant after the completion of the two counselling rounds.

Last year, the Information Bulletin for NEET SS 2023 mentioned that candidates placed at 50th percentile score or above in their respective groups will be declared as qualified as per minimum qualifying criteria.

Also Read: More than 400 Seats vacant: Doctors Urge Health Ministry, NMC to Reduce NEET SS Cutoff, conduct special round

However, the Health Ministry intervened, and after discussing the issue with NMC, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) directed NBE to reduce the cut-off qualifying percentile for NEET SS 2023 to 20 percentile points.

Despite such a move, hundreds of super speciality seats remained vacant and raising this issue earlier the doctors under the United Doctors Front Association (UDFA) recently urged the Union Health Ministry and the National Medical Commission (NMC) to reduce the cut-off percentile for the NEET-SS Counselling 2023.

Besides, the association had also urged the authorities to release the schedule for the mop-up round/special round promptly to fill up all the vacant seats. The association sent this letter to the authorities after the NEET SS 2023 aspirants wrote a letter to the association and pointed out that more than 400 DM/MCH/DrNB seats were still vacant after the Round 2 of the NEET SS Counselling.

Finally, the NBE has announced that all the students who have completed the PG degree as per NMC norms and appeared in NEET SS 2023 examination would be considered eligible to appear in the upcoming special round of NEET SS Counselling.

Sources informed the Times of India that NMC is likely to announce the registration dates for the special admission round in the next couple of days. Experts informed the daily that around 5,000 seats including 150 in Gujarat and after the completion of the admission process, around 1,000 seats are lying vacant across the country.

As per the expert opinion, every year, the NEET SS cut-off percentile gets reduced because every year medical colleges offering super speciality courses suffer losses as they do not get students for branches such as plastic surgery and paediatrics among others because the seats remain unfilled, especially in the private medical colleges, where the annual course fee ranges between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 2.5 crore.

Since the private medical colleges running these super speciality courses need to pay huge fees to the faculty members, they need all the approved seats filled to sustain their operations. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult for them to continue running their institutions. That is why they keep demanding reduction in NEET SS cut-off criteria and the Government, in turn, accepts their demands.

However, the issue of vacant medical seats is not limited to super-speciality only. Vacant medical seats have been a matter of concern for the authorities for the last few years. Sharing the data in this regard, the Union Minister of State for Health, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar had earlier informed that altogether 860 MBBS and 12758 PG Medical Seats remained vacant in the last three years.

This year is also no exception as more than 2000 MBBS seats remained vacant even after multiple rounds of counselling. In fact, the Union Health Ministry had to approach the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the last date for admissions to prevent the wastage of 'precious' medical seats.

The statistics are not so good for the PG medical seats as well. Earlier this year, the Union Health Ministry reduced the cut-off percentile for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) examination to 'Zero' across all categories.

Reportedly this decision was taken by the Ministry to ensure that the number of vacant PG medical seats get reduced. Reducing the cut-off to 'zero' the Ministry made all the PG medical aspirants eligible to participate in the counselling. Despite such efforts by the authorities, 2962 MD/MS/PG Diploma Seats remained vacant for the stray vacancy round of NEET PG.

To view the NBE notice, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/nbe-neet-ss-2023-cutoff-230755.pdf

Also Read: Why are MBBS, and PG Medical Seats Going Vacant? NMC, MCC Conduct Meeting to Streamline Counselling Process Across India