Doctors urge centre to expedite NEET SS hearing, resume counselling
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: The fate of the doctors willing to pursue super-specialization remains uncertain as the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) is yet to resume the NEET SS 2025 counselling, which was put on hold due to a pending matter regarding 151 vacant in-service seats in Tamil Nadu before the Supreme Court.
Even though the matter is listed before the Supreme Court bench on July 28, it is not clear whether the case will be taken up on the scheduled date. Amid this, raising concerns regarding thousands of NEET-SS qualified specialist doctors who remain without jobs due to the 5 months of delay in the counselling process, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has urged the Central Government to intervene.
The association has urged Union Health Minister Shri J P Nadda, the DGHS, and the MCC to make every possible effort to expedite the hearing and ensure that the counselling for NEET-SS 2025 resumes without any further delay.
"5 months of delay. Thousands of NEET-SS qualified specialist doctors remain without jobs, while patients continue to face a shortage of super-specialists. The matter is listed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court on 28 July, but at Item No. 56, making it uncertain whether the case will be taken up. FAIMA respectfully request @JPNadda @MoHFW_INDIA @DghsIndia @MCCCounseling to make every possible effort for an expeditious hearing and ensure NEET-SS counselling resumes without further delay. Doctors should not continue to suffer because of prolonged administrative and legal delays," FAIMA wrote in an X post.
Speaking to Medical Dialogues regarding the issue, the National Vice President of FAIMA, Dr. Lakshya Kumar Jha, said, "The prolonged delay in NEET SS 2025 counselling has now reached nearly five months, placing thousands of qualified doctors in an extremely difficult position. These are doctors who have already completed their postgraduate training and earned their super-speciality seats through a highly competitive national examination, yet they continue to wait in uncertainty."
"This delay has had serious academic, professional, financial and psychological consequences. At the same time, tertiary care hospitals across the country are functioning without the timely induction of super-speciality residents, affecting patient care, emergency services, teaching and research. Considering the larger public interest and the impact on thousands of young doctors and the healthcare system, we sincerely hope that the matter is taken up as early as possible so that the counselling process can proceed without further delay. The aspirations of an entire batch of future super-specialists should not remain in prolonged uncertainty. FAIMA stands with the affected candidates and remains committed to advocating for a timely, fair and transparent resolution," he added.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the counselling process for the superspeciality medical admissions came to a standstill in April 2026 due to the Supreme Court case titled Tamilvani & Ors. vs State of Tamil Nadu, which concerns the reversion of 151 vacant in-service seats from Tamil Nadu State Quota to the All India Quota pool.
Then, disposing of the plea seeking surrender of those unfilled DM and M.Ch seats in the ongoing NEET-SS 2025 counselling process, the Supreme Court directed the State of Tamil Nadu Government to surrender these seats to the All India Quota.
"The State of Tamil Nadu will take necessary steps to intimate the Director General of Health Services about the 151 vacant seats that have remained unfilled," the Apex Court bench comprising Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe ordered so that these seats could be filled through the All India merit list.
However, a new petition had been filed in this regard by Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association (and another) seeking to restrain the State from surrendering those vacant super speciality seats to All India Quota. Filing the plea, the petitioners prayed that the in-service candidates in Tamil Nadu be permitted to compete for the said superspeciality seats in the 3rd round or a mop-up round if the percentile falls below 50% after the 2nd round of the all-India counselling.
While issuing notice on the plea, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Joymalya Bagchi had orally observed that the cut-off for in-service candidates serving under the State should be lower as they are serving the public and continuing their study at the same time.
During the hearing, Justice Nagarathna remarked that "a govt doctor, if acquires more skills, will serve public health better than private doctor".
Meanwhile, earlier this month, MCC reopened the Registration/Reset Registration window for Round 2 of the NEET SS Counselling for the academic year 2025. The registration facility will remain open until further orders are received from the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of Tamilvani & Others vs State of Tamil Nadu (W.P. No. 415 of 2026) concerning the reversion of in-service seats of Tamil Nadu to the All India Quota (AIQ) pool, MCC had announced.
