Centre Slashes NEET-PG 2025 Cut-Off to Fill 9,000 Vacant Medical Seats, Sparks Debate on Standards
NEET-PG Medical Admissions: NEET-PG Cut-Off Reduced, 40 Marks Eligible for MD, MS Seats: In a major policy decision aimed at addressing the acute shortage of doctors, the central government on Tuesday sharply reduced the qualifying cut-off for NEET-PG 2025, paving the way for filling more than 9,000 vacant postgraduate medical seats across the country.
| Category | Previous Qualifying Percentile | Revised Qualifying Percentile | Remarks / Cut-off Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Category | 50th percentile | 7th percentile | Cut-off significantly reduced |
| Economically Weaker Section (EWS) | 50th percentile | 7th percentile | Same as General Category |
| General Category (PwBD) | 45th percentile | 5th percentile | Relaxation for benchmark disability |
| SC (Scheduled Caste) | 40th percentile | 0 percentile | Cut-off score can be as low as –40/800 |
| ST (Scheduled Tribe) | 40th percentile | 0 percentile | Due to negative marking |
| OBC (Other Backward Classes) | 40th percentile | 0 percentile | Lowest qualifying threshold |
Officials said the decision was taken to prevent a large number of PG medical seats from remaining vacant, a situation that has persisted due to high cut-offs despite a large pool of candidates. Nearly 2.4 lakh aspirants appeared for NEET-PG 2025, but stringent eligibility norms left thousands of seats unfilled. India currently has around 65,000 to 70,000 PG medical seats, and officials warned that allowing nearly one in seven seats to go vacant would weaken teaching hospitals and put additional pressure on healthcare services, particularly in government institutions that rely heavily on resident doctors.
SC, ST, OBC Cut-Off Reduced to Zero Percentile
The move follows a January 12 representation by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, urging a reduction in cut-offs to avoid wastage of medical training capacity. NBEMS officials clarified that the entrance exam is meant to prepare a merit list among already qualified MBBS doctors, not to reassess their professional competence.
“You can’t let 9,000–10,000 PG seats go to waste,” an official said, acknowledging that while the reduction is drastic, the admission cycle is already delayed. “Earlier, cut-offs were reduced in stages. This time, we are late. Our focus is on filling seats quickly and avoiding wastage of the country’s medical resources.”
NBEMS also emphasized that the decision does not change exam scores or rankings, but only expands eligibility for counseling to ensure that all available seats can be filled.
However, the move has triggered sharp criticism from sections of the medical fraternity. On social media platform X, a doctor using the handle @theskindoctor13 warned that lowering eligibility to the 0th percentile could lead to a dangerous dilution of standards. “This is a profession that deals directly with life and death, where competence must be precise and non-negotiable,” he wrote, calling the decision unprecedented and alarming.
The IMA, while supporting the need to fill vacant seats, has also cautioned that prolonged vacancies worsen the shortage of resident doctors, increase workloads, disrupt academic training, and adversely affect patient care—especially in government and smaller hospitals.
As the counseling process moves forward under the revised norms, the decision has reignited a broader debate on balancing urgent healthcare needs with the maintenance of academic and professional standards in medical education.
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