Doctors raise concerns as NEET PG vacancies persist despite seat expansion
New Delhi: Even as the Union Health Ministry informed the parliament that 43 new medical colleges have been established and 11,682 MBBS and 8,967 postgraduate seats have been approved for the 2025-26 academic year, concerns persist over thousands of vacant NEET PG seats across the country.
The Union Government had recently informed the Rajya Sabha that a total of 1,140 postgraduate (PG) medical seats remained vacant across government and private medical colleges after the first round of the National Eligibility and Entrance Test-Postgraduate (NEET PG) counselling for the academic year 2025.
To address the issue of vacant seats, the government reduced the qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2025 counselling. Therefore, the revised eligibility criteria for the General (UR) Category were reduced to above the 7th percentile; above the 5th percentile for the UR-PwD Category is above the 5th percentile, and all candidates in the SC/ST/OBC Categories were declared qualified.
NBE in a notice dated 13.01.2026, reduced the minimum qualifying percentile cut-off for counselling of the third round of National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2025-2026 for various categories of candidates.
As per the revised qualifying percentiles for NEET-PG 2025, for the academic session 2025-2026, for the General/EWS, General PwBD, SC/ST/OBC(Including PwBD of SC/ST/OBC) categories, the revised qualifying cut-off is 7th, 5th, and 0th percentile, respectively. Therefore, the revised cut-off score after lowering the cut-off percentile is 103 for General/EWS, 90 for General PwBD, and -40 for SC/ST/OBC(Including PwBD of SC/ST/OBC) categories, respectively.
The Union Health Ministry apprised the parliament that the Government reduced the qualifying percentile for eligibility to NEET PG Counselling 2025 to ensure precious PG medical seats do not remain vacant.
While doctors admit that empty seats are a problem, they believe the solution should not be lowering standards to an extreme level that could jeopardise the safety of patients.
Doctors have also questioned the rapid increase in PG seats without addressing why existing seats remain unfilled.
Reacting to this, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has said that the issue is not a lack of demand for PG courses, but reflects policy failure.
In a statement, FAIMA Chief Patron Dr Rohan Krishnan said the recent reports highlighting thousands of vacant NEET-PG seats across India demand urgent introspection. He pointed out that while the government has increased the number of PG seats in recent years, this expansion has not been matched with improvements in training quality, infrastructure, and institutional credibility.
He highlighted that a major contributor is the stark variation in training standards. Dr Rohan said, "Several peripheral and newly established institutions struggle with inadequate faculty strength, limited patient load, and suboptimal academic ecosystems. For a young doctor, postgraduate training is not merely a degree—it is the foundation of their clinical competence and career trajectory. Naturally, candidates are unwilling to compromise on quality."
According to him, the second problem is the issue of affordability. "The exorbitant fees in private medical colleges remain a substantial barrier, effectively excluding meritorious candidates and leaving seats unfilled. This raises serious concerns about equity and access within medical education," he added.
The third problem is where many of these seats are located and what kind of institutional life they offer. He observes that, "Many vacant seats are concentrated in remote or less-developed regions, where working conditions, safety concerns, and lack of academic exposure deter candidates. Without meaningful incentives—financial, academic, and professional—these institutions will continue to face low uptake."
Dr Krishnan also called for reforms in counselling and bond policies. "Fragmented counselling processes and rigid service bonds often disincentivise candidates, contributing to seat wastage even in later rounds," he noted.
From FAIMA’s standpoint, vacant PG seats should not be misinterpreted as an oversupply of doctors. Instead, they highlight deeper structural challenges in medical education governance.
He emphasised the need to now shift from numerical expansion to qualitative strengthening. "We strongly advocate for a multi-pronged reform approach: implementation of outcome-based accreditation systems, rationalisation of private college fees, strengthening of peripheral institutions through academic linkages, standardisation of counselling mechanisms, and a balanced national policy on service bonds," he said.
He further added, "India’s healthcare system cannot afford a scenario where seats exist but are not viable choices for young doctors. The goal must be to create training environments that are not only available but also aspirational. Only then can we truly bridge the gap between policy intent and on-ground reality."
