NBEMS decision to sharply reduce NEET-PG eligibility cut-offs undermines merits and edn. standards
Raising his concern over compromising on Merits and Standards in Medical education, our expert on Community Health *Dr Naresh Purohit (Exec. Member – Fedn. of Hospital Administrators), calls it a Surrender of Standards!
New Delhi: Medical education and profession in India expired long ago. It doesn’t matter how many nails you drill inside a coffin.Perhaps, it helps in securing the mortal coil inside to be safely transported.
The National B
oard of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) decision to sharply reduce NEET-PG eligibility cut-offs for postgraduate medical admissions undermines merits and threatens medical education standards .
According to the new NBEMS notification released on January 13, the qualifying percentile for the general category was lowered from the 50th to the 7th percentile and for persons with disabilities from the 45th to the 5th percentile. For candidates belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories, it was reduced to zero which makes candidates with scores as low as minus 40 out of 800 marks eligible for postgraduate medical admissions.
This is not reform, it is a surrender of standards.
NEET is one of the most competitive exams in the country, which aspiring medical students are expected to clear to secure seats in medical colleges.
The unprecedented reduction in cut-off undermines the credibility and purpose of the test. Allowing candidates with negative marks to qualify for postgraduate training cannot be justified under any academic or ethic
al standards and risks diluting the quality of future specialists.
This move creates an impression that merit-based national competitive examinations could soon become redundant, with admissions granted irrespective of rank or eligibility.
The recent notification issued by the NBEMS clearly allows candidates with scores as low as minus 40 marks eligible for postgraduate medical admissions.This favours substandard private colleges whose seats can be filled by low-scoring candidates at exorbitant fees and prioritises institutional profits over students’ welfare.
Many of these institutions lack adequate faculty, patient load, and basic infrastructure, yet run 20–30 seats per clinical department purely for commercial gain.
The Union government needs to immediately withdraw the notification and restore a reasonable, merit-based cut-off.
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*Dr. Naresh Purohit-MD, DNB, DIH, MHA, MRCP(UK), is an eminent Epidemiologist, 
Advisor-National Communicable Disease Control Program of Govt. of India, Madhya Pradesh and several state organizations.)
Dr. Purohit is also Principal Investigator for the Association of Studies For Kidney Care.
