The Medical Counselling Committee for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test is offering a special stray counselling round for admission into postgraduate medical courses. This round was announced after 2,244 PG (MD, MS, Diploma, PG DNB) and 62 MDS seats remained vacant after the completion of the mop-up and stray counselling rounds. The special round will start on January 6th.
The MCC has announced that students who have already registered for the mop-up round of counselling and were not assigned any seats are eligible for the special stray round. However, the MCC has stated that students who are offered seats in this round and choose not to accept them will be banned from taking the NEET PG exam in 2023 in order to prevent seat blocking. Additionally, students will need to pay a refundable security deposit of Rs 50,000 in order to participate in this round.
Candidates have requested a special round to fill these seats. Dr Rohan Krishnan, National Chairman of the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), praised the decision and commented, "It was crucial that these seats get filled up because a lot of them are clinical seats, and this is worrisome. These seats are the ones that provide the manpower to bolster the healthcare system. The government spends lakhs of rupees on each seat, and they should not go to waste."
There have been some suggestions on Twitter to allow new registrations for this counselling round, but Dr Krishnan explained that this is not a regular round and cannot be open to everyone. "Those who have not registered already were probably clear on the fact that they did not want to take admission this year," he suggested.
Manickavel Arumugam, a medical admissions counsellor, commented on the decision to disqualify students who do not accept their allotted seats in this round. Arumugam stated that it is a necessary step and should be implemented for all undergraduate and postgraduate admissions counselling.
"If seats go vacant when students are not interested, there's not much we can do about that. But we do not want a scenario where students block seats and don't take admissions. Here in Chennai, some major colleges have hundreds of seats lying vacant just for this reason. The seriousness of the matter should be appreciated, and students should be mindful while registering and filling out their choice of seats," said Arumugam.
Aspirants for the NEET PG who have already registered for the mop-up round but were not assigned any seats are eligible to participate in the special round of counselling. They will be required to pay a security deposit of Rs 50,000 on January 6th. Choice filling for the special stray round of NEET PG counselling will take place from January 6th to January 8th.
