More than 1000 Super-Specialty Seats Vacant: FORDA writes to DGHS, demands NEET SS mop-up round after reducing cut-off

New Delhi: Referring to the fact that more than 1000 Super Specialty seats have remained unfilled after the completion of Round 1 and Round 2 of NEET SS 2022 Counselling, doctors under the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) have demanded a mop-up round after reducing the cut-off marks.

In this regard, FORDA recently wrote to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), operative under the Union Health Ministry and pointed out that wastage of seats is a "significant academic and healthcare loss".

NEET-SS 2022 was conducted on 1st and 2nd September, 2022 for admission to DM/MCh/DrNB Super Specialty courses. Consequently results were declared by the National Board of Examinations (NBE) on September 15, 2022.

While two rounds of counselling had been conducted for filling up the Super-Specialty Seats, FORDA mentioned in the letter directed to DGHS, "Despite the completion of the counselling process, there are still a significant number of seats that remain vacant in various super specialty courses."

"NEET SS is a highly coveted examination, as it is a gateway to the most prestigious and pinnacle of medical education seats. Each year, lakhs of students appear to vie for a select number of seats. It is worth mentioning that one super specialty doctor serves the society in countless ways and augmenting their number in the country is the need of the hour. Keeping this in mind, the wastage of seats is not acceptable and is a significant academic and healthcare loss," the association pointed out.

Claiming that mote than 1000 seats have remained vacant, the association urged the authorities to hold a mop-up round of counselling after lowering the cut-off marks.

Also Read: MCC Releases Final Results Round 2 NEET SS Counselling 2022, details

"After the current counselling process (both round 1 and 2), More than 1000 seats have remained unfilled across the country. The gravity of this tremendous loss of opportunity cannot be stressed enough and this necessitates an urgent solution. In the recent past, the cut off score was decreased significantly to make up for the eligibility. We suggest and request that a similar step can considered along with the conduct of a mop-up round, for the current session," stated the letter.

"Furthermore, in our efforts to prevent seat wastage. it is our earnest request that the seats which were not joined by the candidates to whom they were allotted be also made a part of this mop-up round, thereby adding to the seat pool. A provision for the same may be initiated by your esteemed office to facilitate them to relinquish their seat in case they do not continue with it," it further read.

"Considering the aforementioned facts, we respectfully request a prompt resolution to these issues. We believe that the action suggested will aid in the optimal utilization of available resources and provide deserving candidates an opportunity to secure a seat in the super specialty medical education," the letter added.

Speaking to Medical Dialogues in this regard, the General Secretary of FORDA, Dr. Sarvesh Pandey added, "Last year also, the authorities had lowered the cut-off for filling up the vacant seats. If they lower the cut-off, more participants would be able to appear for the counselling process. This will be beneficial for the Government and also patient care. This is the only way to stop wastage of the resources by filling up the vacant super specialty seats."

Medical Dialogues had reported last year that, complying with the order of the Union Health Ministry, NBE had reduced the cut-off for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Super Speciality (NEET-SS) 2021 examination by 15th percentile. Such a decision was taken by NBE after Union Health Ministry took cognizance of the fact that around 1,000 seats were remaining vacant belonging to several branches of Super-Specialty.

The reason for such a decision by the Health Ministry was the fact that even after the completion of the mop-up counselling for NEET-SS 2021, 930 super specialty seats are still lying vacant including several seats belonging to Government institutes.

These vacant seats were not only from the least sought after branches but several hundreds of seats belonged to coveted branches such as DM Cardiology (DMCD) and DNBSS Cardiology (DCRD) and those in the super-specializations of Neurology, Gastroenterology, Nephrology even oncology were also lying vacant.

Also Read: NBE reduces NEET SS 2021 cutoff by 15th percentile for 32 specialities