242 Doctors debarred from NEET PG 2024: MCC

New Delhi: Altogether 242 candidates left their seats in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2023 counselling and have been debarred from appearing in the upcoming NEET PG 2024, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) informed in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application.

Candidates willing to participate in the Special stray vacancy round have to pay an additional Rs 50,000 as a security amount. The MCC rules specify that in case, a candidate has participated in the Special stray vacancy round wherein he/she has been allotted a seat and fails to report to his/her college, such candidates will be debarred from participating in the upcoming NEET-PG examination and counselling along with forfeiture of Rs 50,000. With this, MCC also collects an undertaking from the candidates appearing in the Special Stray Vacancy round.

Therefore, considering these 242 candidates' security deposit of Rs 50000 each was forfeited, MCC collected Rs 1.21 crore as a penalty for leaving these seats.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that last year taking cognizance of 2,244 vacant PG medical seats, MCC introduced stringent conditions for appearing in the Special Stray Vacancy Round of NEET-PG 2022 counselling.

Introducing the new rules, MCC specified that candidates who do not join the seats allotted to them in the Special Stray Vacancy Round would be debarred from appearing in NEET PG 2023 examination. It had also clarified that such candidates would be required to pay a Refundable Security Deposit of Rs 50,000 for participation in the Special Stray Vacancy Round. An undertaking was also taken from these candidates who wished to participate in the Special Stray Vacancy Round of NEET(PG)-2022 with the abovementioned conditions, to which the ‘candidates voluntarily agreed’.

However, even after the conduction of Special Stray Round, a total of 127 candidates failed to report at the allotted college, MCC mentioned in the notification issued on July 19, 2023. "Hence, as per the terms and conditions of the Special Stray Vacancy Round, these 127 candidates will not be eligible to participate in the Examination and counselling process of NEET (PG)-2023-24 and also the security amount of Rs. 50,000/- , as deposited for Stray Vacancy Round shall stand forfeited," it further mentioned.

MCC had sought the details of 127 candidates from the National Board of Examinations (NBE), which conducts the NEET-PG exam, to confirm if any of these candidates participated in the NEET PG 2023-2024 exam. NBE traced 47 candidates who participated in the NEET PG 2023 exam and had not joined seats in the Stray Vacancy Round. Taking action against them, MCC debarred them from participating in this year's NEET PG Counselling.

Meanwhile, this year, filing a Right to Information (RTI) application, social and political activist Dr. Vivek Pandey sought to know from the MCC the details and list of total number of NEET PG aspirants who left their seats in NEET PG 2023 counselling and became debarred for upcoming NEET PG 2024 exam.

Responding to this, DGHS informed, "The total number of NEET PG aspirants left seats in NEET PG 2023 counselling and debarred for upcoming NEET PG 2024 exam is 242. Any personal details of the candidates cannot be made public due to confidentiality."

Therefore, considering that these 242 candidates forfeited Rs 50,000, MCC collected Rs 1.21 Crore from these candidates as fine. Last year, MCC collected Rs 63,50,000 as a penalty from 127 candidates for leaving their seats after the stray round and they were also debarred from appearing in NEET PG 2023 exam.

Regarding the matter, RTI Activist Dr. Vivek Pandey told Medical Dialogues, "Excluding students from upcoming examinations and counseling proceedings entails a significant loss of a valuable academic year, inflicting considerable distress upon aspiring individuals. While it is appropriate for the government to impose fines as a punitive measure, such penalties should remain within the bounds of affordability for the individuals involved. However, the act of debarring students constitutes a direct infringement upon their fundamental right to education."