The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has written to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya asking for a reduction in the cut-off marks for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-Post Graduate (PG) 2023 exam, which they said would ensure that a significant number of aspiring doctors could enrol for postgraduate programmes in various medical colleges across the country, and not a single postgraduate seat would go vacant.
“As a result of high cut off scores, aspiring medical students are not only being prevented from entering post graduation but also compelled to travel overseas to pursue their dream which in turn is depleting the medical manpower pool in India,” the association said, adding that the concerned authorities should look into it as early as possible, take immediate steps to resolve the issue, and help the country acquire more specialist doctors.
“We request you to reduce the NEET PG 2023 cut off percentile up to 30% so that most of the seats are filled in both clinical and non-clinical branches,” the letter said.
The NEET-PG cut-off percentile in 2023 for candidates belonging to the General/Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category is 50; for General People with Disabilities (PwD) is 45; and for Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST)/ Other Backward Classes (OBC), including PwBD of SC/ST/OBC is 40. This cut-off is the minimum score aspirants must obtain to be deemed eligible for admission to a postgraduate programme.
