The process of choice filling for NEET-Super Speciality (NEET-SS) counselling has been halted by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) because super speciality seats from several colleges and institutions were not added earlier to the seat matrix by them. The MCC of Directorate General of Health Services, in the notice issued on April 4, shared that it is in the process of adding these colleges and institutes to the seat matrix.
"Hence the choice filling for Super Specialty will be paused for sometime so that these colleges/institutes may add these seats to the seat matrix," read the notice. It also went on to add, "As soon as the addition of the fresh seats by the colleges/institutes is complete the choice filling shall be resumed and will be notified by way of notice."
By the evening of April 5, MCC had added 237 seats, which included 97 seats in the all-India quota (AIQ), to the matrix Round 1 of the counselling, as mentioned in a report by The Indian Express. It may be recalled that there are only about 6,000 super speciality seats in India.
It was on April 3 that the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) had addressed a letter to the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), who oversees MCC, and informed them about the issues that NEET-SS 2021 candidates were facing. The letter stated that the seat matrix published for NEET-SS counselling 2021 (Round 1) was "incomplete". This included seats from institutes of repute like Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) Lucknow, Army Hospital Research And Referral in Delhi, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi and Jaslok Super-Speciality Hospital in Mumbai and so on.
Since today, Tuesday, April 5, is the deadline for locking in the choice of seat for Round 1 counselling, FORDA stated in the letter, “Seats from these institutions...are always opted by Top Rankers in various specialities. For the current year, addition of these seats in Round 2 will essentially turn the Round 1 into a 'Mock Round' as the Top Rankers will apply for upgradation in Round 2.” It also went on to state that apart from affecting candidates in the entire merit list, this will lead to more complications.
The association also mentioned how since details of the fee structure, stipend and bond for each healthcare institute were yet to be published, the task of choice-filling by the candidates in various specialities was affected.