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NEW DELHI: The repeated lowering of NEET-PG cut-offs has reignited concerns over the quality of postgraduate medical training, with critics warning that successive relaxations risk diluting standards at a time when patient care is already under strain.Health ministry officials acknowledge these concerns but argue that the policy reflects a difficult trade-off between preserving academic standards, addressing acute doctor shortages and utilising public investment. Each postgraduate medical seat costs govt several crores of rupees to create, officials said, and unfilled seats cannot be carried forward to next year.”Final competence is not tested at entry but at the exit stage,” a senior official said, noting that all PG students undergo three years of supervised training and must clear final university exams where no relaxation is permitted.The immediate trigger for the latest cut-off reduction is the scale of vacancies. Around 9,000 PG seats are lying vacant under the All India Quota, officials said. When state quotas are included, the total number of unfilled postgraduate seats nationwide is estimated at around 18,000 – despite 1.5-2.2 lakh candidates appearing for NEET-PG each year.While 70-80% of PG seats are in clinical disciplines, a disproportionate share of vacant seats lie in pre- and para-clinical subjects such as anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pathology, microbiology and pharmacology. Some clinical seats also remain unfilled, particularly in peripheral govt hospitals, district hospitals and DNB institutions.Officials said the problem becomes evident after Round 1 and Round 2 of counselling, when seats in less developed institutions are repeatedly skipped. Candidates cite poor infrastructure, limited clinical exposure, low stipends, difficult locations and weak career prospects, often preferring to wait for another exam cycle or opt selectively for private colleges. To prevent seats from going to waste, the authorities lower the qualifying percentile before Round 3 of counselling, widening eligibility and avoiding automatic category conversions.Officials stressed this does not alter exam scores or ranks. NEET-PG, they said, is not a licensing exam but a ranking test to allocate seats among already qualified doctors.Dr Naval K Vikram, AIIMS professor from medicine department, clarified the percentile system works on a relative basis. “If 100 candidates appear and the top scorer gets 76 marks, that candidate is assigned the 100th percentile. Percentile does not mean percentage marks,” he said.Because of negative marking, candidates can score zero or even negative marks. “A zero percentile only means the candidate is at the bottom of the ranking. It does not mean zero medical knowledge,” he said.The reduction in NEET-PG qualifying percentiles is not new and has been used repeatedly in the past few years to address large numbers of vacant PG seats. In 2023, the qualifying percentile was lowered to zero across all categories. In 2024, it was reduced to the 5th percentile for all categories.In 2025, the qualifying criteria were relaxed further in a graded manner: the cut-off was brought down to the 7th percentile for General/EWS candidates, 5th percentile for General PwBD candidates, and 0 percentile for SC/ST/OBC candidates, including PwBD, reflecting continuing efforts to widen eligibility and fill unoccupied PG seats.Experts said in most exams, cut-offs are meant to preserve quality and lowering them too much risks diluting standards – a concern that remains central to the debate.A PG student, who cleared the exam, said that the system is often misunderstood. “Seats remain vacant because many colleges and subjects are unattractive, not because there are no candidates,” the student said.Officials admitted that the debate on quality cannot be ignored. According to them, the core problem is the uneven development of medical institutions. Well-equipped govt colleges and metro hospitals fill their seats early, while under-resourced centres struggle year after year.Critics warned that lowering cut-offs shifts focus away from improving institutions. “Lowering cut-offs fills seats, but unless hospitals and training quality improve, it risks diluting postgraduate standards,” said an official familiar with counselling data.IMA junior doctors’ network spokesperson Dr Dhruv Chauhan said the move would disproportionately benefit private colleges. “Money and class will decide healthcare outcomes instead of merit. Seats will again be sold for crores,” he said.But officials maintained that until infrastructure improves and peripheral institutions become viable training centres, lowering cut-offs remains a temporary but necessary measure. Go to Source
