The Supreme Court, on Monday, September 25, refused to entertain a petition against the reduction of the cut-off qualifying percentile to zero for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG), 2023 counselling.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) reduced the cut-off percentile to zero across all categories for NEET-PG 2023 counselling amid the ongoing admission session allowing anyone who appeared for the exam to be eligible for the counselling process. The decision was made by the ministry after receiving representation from a few medical associations who urged a reduction in the NEET-PG cut-off citing a huge number of vacant seats.
However, the decision has also drawn criticism as many feel mediocre medical students will secure seats in specialised postgraduate courses jeopardising public health.
Dr Rohan Krishnan, Chairman, Federation of India Medical Association (FAIMA), said “I am not surprised that the SC has dismissed the plea regarding cut-off percentile in NEET-PG 2023 exam as usually, the Supreme Court does not interfere in matters of education. Earlier as well, the Supreme Court has always kept a safe distance and we respect that, however, the main concern was that the government should have focused on filling these vacant seats with meritorious students. We must focus on how we can bring down the cost of medical education in both private and government colleges,” he said
“Our focus should have been on how we can fill the seats without lowering the cut-off from 50 percentile as I am sure there are students who have scored more than that and still do not have the seats. We must focus on making medical education in India cost-effective,” added Dr Krishnan.
So what did the Supreme Court say? As per a report by PTI, the bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, refused to entertain the plea as the petitioner was not a NEET-PG aspirant.
A few doctors and medical faculty have also frowned upon this move by the MoHFW, citing that this goes against medical ethics.
“The medical profession directly deals with patients and people’s lives. It is unlike engineering or any other degree and hence, it is absolutely necessary that there be some kind of checkpoint for selecting students. If anyone can participate in the counselling, then what is the point of having an entrance exam at all? Just to fill the vacant seats, we cannot jeopardise the quality of medical education and the healthcare sector,” opined Dr Arvind Pandey, Professor, Anatomy, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal.
Support for cut-off reduction
At the same time, the move by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has been applauded by a few doctors’ associations.
Indian Medical Association (IMA) was one of the several organisations that sent representation to the NMC and the MoHFW demanding a reduction in cut-off.
Dr Sharad Kumar Agarwal, National President, IMA, expressed, “We have to understand that stating 'zero percentile' as the cut-off does not mean that people with zero percentile will get seats. There are about 66,000 PG seats and more than two lakh candidates. If the seats are distributed on a merit basis, as the government will ensure, it does not create any issues. Lastly, we have to keep in mind that NEET-PG is a 'best out of best' exam as all the candidates are qualified MBBS doctors.”
