The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reduced the qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2023 to be eligible for counselling to zero across all categories.
NEET PG 2023: Following DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s comments on the NEET PG qualifying percentile, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday also conveyed his astonishment. The Congress on Sunday termed “shocking” the government reducing the qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2023 to zero and asked who benefits from completely doing away with the minimum basic standards.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reduced the qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2023 to be eligible for counselling to zero across all categories. “It is for the information to candidates that the qualifying percentile for PG Courses (Medical/ Dental) for NEET PG counselling 2023 has been reduced to ‘zero’ across all categories by MoHFW,” said a notice issued by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), Directorate of Health Services, Government of India.
Taking to X(formally Twitter), Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the decision of the Modi government to reduce the cutoff for entry for MD/MS degrees via PG-NEET to the zeroth percentile making those who score the least in the exam eligible is “absolutely shocking”.
This is a complete U-turn from the stand taken by the government in the Delhi High Court last July, he said and posted a screenshot of a media report on the government telling the HC last year that it cannot lower NEET-PG cut-off so as to the minimum standard of education is maintained.
The decision of the Modi government to reduce the cutoff for entry for MD/MS degrees via PG-NEET to the Zeroth Percentile — making those who score the least in the exam eligible — is absolutely shocking! This is a complete U-turn from the stand taken by the govt in the Delhi High… pic.twitter.com/1uN62ECLt5
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 24, 2023
“While most agree that access to medical education and supply of doctors needs to be dramatically increased to meet the demands, whom does it benefit to completely do away with minimum basic standards? Where are the merit-wallahs in the government and among its drum-beaters today?” Ramesh said. “Will this not benefit only private medical colleges who want to sell the seats that are not being filled up to the highest bidder,” he further asked. “Is this U-turn also being done to benefit children of very influential BJP leaders who would not have qualified without this scandalous dilution?” Ramesh said.
Union Health Ministry officials on Friday said reducing the qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2023 to zero will increase the pool of qualifying candidates but not dilute the merit system for admission to PG medical courses, news agency PTI reported. Only those scoring the highest marks will get admission for PG medical courses, they said.
The admission will be done through a transparent counselling process and will do away with alleged backdoor entry that was offered by some private colleges, the officials said. They dismissed as imaginary the speculation that students with zero percentile can also become specialist doctors. The reality is that students with the highest marks will be eligible for admission to their choice of courses and colleges, they said.
There are 68,142 PG medical seats in the country. Till now, candidates scoring above 50 percentile were eligible to participate in the counselling process for medical PG admission through NEET. Last year, the qualifying criteria was kept at 20 percentile even then 3,000 seats remained vacant under the all India quota, the officials had said. Calling it a ‘murder of merit; or ‘the black day of medical fraternity’, several students and medical associations have condemned the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW)’s decision.
At present, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will conduct the seat allotment for the NEET PG Counselling Round 3 for a period of two days. Based on the MCC NEET PG 2023 Counselling, the competent authority will conduct the seat allotment process between September 26 to September 27, 2023. MCC uploads the provisional result initially in every round for verification of the candidates/college/institute based on their choices, merit and eligibility. The MCC NEET PG 2023 Round 3 Counselling Result, which will be announced on September 28, can be downloaded by visiting the official website at mcc.nic.in.