Cutoff lowered to 15 percentile in NEET-PG for students this yr

Mumbai: Students with a 15 percentile in NEET-PG in 2024, can also secure seats in the ongoing postgraduate medical admission process. The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) under the Directorate General of Health Services issued a circular on Saturday, lowering the eligibility score for general and EWS category students to 15 percentile. For students from the SC, ST, OBC, and PwD categories, the cutoff has been brought down to 10 percentile.
At the start of the process, the cut-off score was 50 percentile for the general category. Last year, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had even brought down the cut-off to zero percentile. A circular issued by the MCC mentioned, ‘…as per the decision taken by the ministry in consultation with the National Medical Commission, the percentile for NEET-PG counselling 2024 has been lowered…’.
The Indian Medical Association Junior Doctors’ Network also placed the demand before the ministry last month as several seats, including in clinical and non-clinical courses, were vacant even after two rounds of admissions.
The network asked the union minister to ensure optimal utilisation of medical seats in the country. Some of the clinical branches, too, see vacancies in private and deemed institutions as the fees are on the higher side. In the past, the cutoffs were reduced to 35 percentile too. The National Board of Examinations has been asked to provide details of the candidates who are now eligible with the lowered cutoff.