The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) has announced that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) will become a mandatory requirement for admission to numerous undergraduate allied and healthcare programmes beginning in the 2026-27 academic year.

The commission stated that students wishing to pursue select allied and healthcare professional courses following Class 12 or an equivalent qualifying examination must take the NEET-UG in addition to meeting all other course-specific eligibility requirements, EduGraph reports.

NCAHP confirmed in a recent update issued in November that it has already notified 13 curricula for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the Allied and Healthcare category, all of which will be implemented in the upcoming academic session. More curricula are expected to be released soon as part of the commission’s ongoing reforms.

According to the NCAHP Act of 2021, the eligibility requirements for these programmes have been incorporated into the newly notified curricula, with the majority clearly indicating NEET-UG qualification as a necessary criterion among other academic requirements.

The admission cycle for these redesigned programmes is set to begin in 2026-27, representing a significant shift in the allied health sciences entry procedure.

Earlier this year, the commission proposed replacing the term "paramedical" with the more comprehensive and formally recognised phrase "Allied and Healthcare," which reflects the expanding scope and professionalism of these professions.

Among the important reforms implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), physiotherapy graduates can now use the title 'Dr,' as long as it is followed by the suffix 'PT' to distinguish them from medical doctors and PhDs.

The updated standards also require NEET-UG certification for admission to programmes such as physiotherapy, optometry, nutrition and dietetics, dialysis technology, and different therapy-based courses, bolstering attempts to standardise admission pathways and improve quality in allied healthcare education.