Want a Siddha, Homeopathy or Ayurveda seat UG seat? You'll have to clear NEET first

After going back and forth on the topic, the Central Council of Indian Medicine and Central Council for Homeopathy finally announced that all admissions to the UG and PG courses will be done only through ranks obtained in NEET. The Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) put out a notice i April 2019 confirming that only the NEET merit list will be considered for admissions to AYUSH courses for the academic year 2019-2020.

This essentially means that for any student to get admission into an Indian medicine course, either in private or government-run colleges, they would have had to have cleared NEET with a sufficiently high rank. While the ranking/score will not be high enough to warrant medical seats or dental seats, it will still have to be competitive enough to warrant an Indian medicine seat. 

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Doctors in Tamil Nadu continue to protest against the imposition of NEET on the state, not only in AYUSH and Siddha courses but also MBBS. In Tamil Nadu, students chose Siddha mostly after they realise they've failed to get into an MBBS course. Lats year the TN government had appealed against the move but this year the Eddpadi govenment has remained mum on the issue. Dr Shanthi AR from the Doctor Association for Social Equality (DASE) said that if the Central government wanted to have one standard exam for Central Universities and Private Universities, it is acceptable, "But to force it on institutions in the State, that is unfair. The state should be allowed to handle education and decide what is best for its students."

Read More: National Board of Education to conduct NEET Super Speciality examination 2019 on June 28

The circular states that the seat matrix for admission in government, government-aided and private institutions will be 15 percent for the All India quota. Under the State and the Union Territories, applicants can avail 85 percent quota. This will be applicable for both the undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

The circular also said that the counselling for all admissions to BAMS, BUMS. BSMS and BHMS and all PG courses for the all India quota as well as the Ayurvedic institutions established by the Central government shall be conducted by one authority. This authority will be designated by the Central government too.

As per the Information Bulletin of the NEET 2019, Chapter-7 (Post Examination Activities and Declaration of Result) point no 5 - "Use of result of NEET (UG)-2019 may be utilised by other entities of Central/State governments for admission purposes."