The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has revised the cut-off for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET PG) 2025 across all categories. For general candidates, the percentile fell from 50 to 7, while SC, ST, and OBC candidates now face a zero percentile threshold. Persons with benchmark disabilities have a cut-off of the 5th percentile. This effectively allows candidates with negative marks to enter counselling for postgraduate medical seats. The concerning point is that NEET PG is not an ordinary college entrance exam; it is a significant benchmark for future doctors. It defines the medical standards of the country. By reducing the cut-off to a mere “zero,” are we not taking high-class medical education for granted?Officials, however, justified the decision as necessary to fill over 9,000 vacant PG seats left unoccupied after two rounds of counselling. According to a TNN report, India has 65,000–70,000 postgraduate medical seats, and leaving thousands vacant, they argue, would weaken teaching hospitals and strain healthcare delivery, particularly in government institutions that rely heavily on resident doctors.Yet, the move raises immediate and difficult questions: If candidates with negative marks can qualify, is NEET PG still a credible measure of merit? Are we prioritising the administrative need to fill seats over the competence required to train the next generation of specialists?
Official justification
NBEMS officials argue that NEET PG is primarily a ranking exercise for doctors who have already cleared MBBS and university exams. “You can’t afford to let 9,000-10,000 PG seats go to waste,” an official told TNN. Authorities emphasise that the change does not alter scores or ranks, and that merit-based allocation through authorised counselling mechanisms continues to guide seat distribution.The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had formally requested the cut-off reduction on January 12, citing the need to prevent unfilled seats from weakening hospital functioning and affecting patient care, as reported by TNN. Yet, even among MBBS graduates, critics ask: Does reducing entry standards to zero undermine the rigour of postgraduate medical education itself?
NEET PG cut-off reduction: Medical community pushes back
Medical associations have been outspoken. The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) described the decision as “unprecedented and illogical,” warning that allowing candidates with negative marks to pursue postgraduate training cannot be justified under any academic or ethical standards. According to a PTI report, FAIMA president Dr. Rohan Krishnan wrote to Union Health Minister JP Nadda saying, “This decision raises serious concerns about the quality of future specialists and poses a direct threat to patient safety, particularly in government hospitals.““Lowering educational standards merely to fill vacant seats in certain private medical colleges is unacceptable and sets a harmful precedent for the future of India’s medical education system,” the letter mentioned.Dr. Krishnan told ANI that it can be a concern for the general public, as low-scoring aspirants can fill up private medical college seats. “The new order is for the entire medical fraternity and patients, as well as the common public of the country, who do not know what the repercussions will be. Now, even the candidates with zero percentiles will be eligible to get seats. Paediatrics, emergency medicine, surgery, or any other specialty, they will be eligible to get those seats. They will be able to practise at big hospitals and everywhere else in the country. This is a big nexus that will bring crores of rupees to private medical colleges,” Krishnan told ANI. The Federation of Doctors Association (FORDA) echoed these concerns by writing a letter to Nadda, noting that years of rigorous preparation by aspirants who met previous cut-offs are being devalued. Both associations highlighted that private colleges may benefit disproportionately, filling seats with low-scoring candidates at high fees while prioritising institutional profit over merit.FORDA mentioned in the letter, “With faith already strained by past controversies, lowered cutoffs undermine perceptions of doctors as highly skilled experts. Patients deserve merit-based specialists, not diluted standards.”The broader question is unavoidable: If merit is no longer the guiding principle, can teaching hospitals maintain standards of clinical training? Will patients, especially the most vulnerable, receive care from specialists whose training was granted through a diluted system?
What NEET PG changes mean for healthcare and medical education
While the government’s immediate logic is easy to see — empty seats mean wasted training capacity and hospitals short on hands. That is real. But the longer shadow is harder to ignore. If entry standards are loosened too far, India could end up producing specialists who are simply less prepared, slowly eroding both the quality of patient care and the credibility of the country’s medical education system.Medical bodies are now pushing back. They want merit-based cut-offs restored, and they are calling for a high-level committee, with NBEMS, the National Medical Commission, and resident doctors at the table — to ensure that future decisions are transparent and driven by evidence, PTI reports.
Stakes of diluted standards
NEET-PG is more than an exam, it is the gatekeeper for India’s next generation of specialists. Reducing cut-offs to zero may temporarily fill vacant seats, but it forces a larger question: Are we treating medical education as a rigorous process of skill-building and evaluation, or merely as a mechanism to ensure seat occupancy? The answer will determine not only the competence of future doctors but also the quality of care received by millions of patients who rely on government hospitals and teaching institutions.
