NEET SS cutoff reduced from 50 to 20 percentile
New Delhi: In a major overhaul, the eligibility criteria for NEET SS 2022 admissions has been reduced from 50 percentile to 20 percentile. This move comes in the backdrop of over 1000 super speciality seats being vacant after the completion of the two counselling rounds.
"The Union health ministry in consultation with the National Medical Commission (NMC) has decided to reduce the eligibility criterion for NEET Super Speciality courses from 50 percentile to 20 percentile," officials familiar with the development informed the Press Trust of India.
With this, the Candidates who have scored 20 percentile and above in the NEET-Super Speciality (SS) will be eligible to participate in the "special mop-up round".
"The competent authorities of the MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) in consultation with the NMC have decided to conduct an additional mop-up round... it may be conducted for remaining vacant seats after completion of two rounds of the NEET-SS 2022-23 counselling," a letter send by the Medical Counselling Committee to the National Board of Examinations (NBE) stated, quotes PTI.
"The eligible candidates for the additional round will be candidates scoring 20th percentile and above -- in all subjects -- in the NEET-SS 2022 examination conducted by the NBE, it said. "Therefore, it is requested to you to kindly share the data of eligible candidates...," the letter stated,adds the agency.
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 had written a letter 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".
"Despite the completion of the counselling process, there are still a significant number of seats that remain vacant in various super specialty courses." the association had said.
"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," it further pointed out.
Claiming that more 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.
