The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has announced a Special Stray Vacancy Round for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Postgraduate or NEET-PG 2024 in an effort to fill the remaining vacant seats across medical colleges. The registration window for this round will be open from March 6 to March 8, 2025, with seat allotment scheduled for March 10.
The move aims to fill vacant postgraduate medical seats. However, the prolonged counselling process has raised concerns within the medical community, with experts questioning its impact on academic schedules and the integrity of medical admissions.
With multiple rounds of counselling already conducted, the introduction of an additional stray vacancy round indicates that a considerable number of seats remain unfilled. Experts attribute this to disruptions in state-level counselling and last-minute seat withdrawals by candidates opting for better opportunities.
"The government has an obligation to ensure that no medical seat goes vacant, whether at the undergraduate or postgraduate level. This special stray vacancy round was expected, given the way this year's counselling has unfolded," said Rakesh Jain, Founder of NEET Navigator.
He explained that there were legal hurdles in states like Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, and Karnataka, which caused delays in counselling. Many candidates who secured better seats in state quota rounds vacated the ones allotted through MCC, leading to a surplus of vacant seats.
"Delays in state counselling created a domino effect. Students who got better seats elsewhere left behind vacancies, which is why the government has had to introduce this round. It was expected," Jain added.
While filling vacant seats is a priority, experts argue that extending the counselling process disrupts medical education timelines and adds uncertainty for aspirants.
The NEET-PG 2024 cycle has already seen multiple rescheduling and delays. The exam was conducted in August 2024, after a number of postponements and rescheduling. Now, almost six months since the exam was conducted, the process is yet to conclude.
"Lowering the percentile was necessary to accommodate more candidates, especially for high-fee seats such as NRI (Non-Resident Indians) quotas. However, this repeated reworking of eligibility criteria and additional rounds of counselling have created instability," Jain pointed out.
According to him, prolonged counselling not only delays the academic calendar but also affects students who are preparing for the next NEET-PG attempt. The lack of clarity on the NEET-PG 2025 exam date has further compounded anxieties among aspirants.
Medical influencer Dr Dhruv Chauhan also shares the same opinion. In fact, he has taken to social media in the past, speculating about a postponement of the NEET-PG 2025 exam, which is scheduled for June 15.
“They have released this notification, and the process will continue till mid-March. When the previous batch will not even begin until April, how can they conduct NEET-PG 2025 in another two months,” he highlighted.
