By Admin 
A big and shocking decision has come out regarding the country’s most important medical examination NEET-PG 2025. The Central Government and the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) have drastically reduced the cut-off for the third round of counselling. After this decision, now such candidates have also become eligible for post graduation i.e. PG medical seats, whose marks are very low.
In some categories, even candidates with negative marks have been allowed to participate in counselling.
This decision is being seen as a major change in the medical education system. While on one hand the government is calling it an attempt to fill the vacant seats, on the other hand, concern about it has increased among doctors and medical organizations.
What was the rule earlier?
Before January 13, 2026, the minimum cut-off to qualify for NEET-PG 2025 was fixed. For General and EWS categories, 50th percentile was required, which was approximately 276 marks out of 800. For PwBD (General), the 45th percentile i.e. about 255 marks was fixed.
The 40th percentile was kept for SC, ST and OBC categories, which was approximately 235 marks.
The meaning was clear that to remain in the race for admission in PG, one had to score at least 235 marks, no matter which category the candidate belonged to.
What changed now?
After the new notice issued by NBEMS, the cut-off has been reduced significantly.
Now the cut-off for General and EWS categories has been increased to 7th percentile, which is approximately 103 marks.
For PwBD (General), this has been increased to 5th percentile i.e. around 90 marks. At the same time, the cut-off for SC, ST and OBC categories has been reduced to zero percentile, i.e. even minus 40 marks will be considered valid. However, it has been clarified that this change is only for the eligibility to participate in counselling. There has been no change in the rank of NEET-PG 2025.
Why did the government take this decision?
The government and NBEMS say that even after the first and second rounds of NEET-PG 2025, thousands of PG medical seats remained vacant across the country. Even after reaching the third round, students were not found in many colleges.
On one hand, there is a continuous discussion about the shortage of doctors in the country, on the other hand, training seats in medical colleges are lying vacant. To end this contradiction, it was decided to reduce the cut-off, so that more and more candidates can participate in counseling and seats can be filled.
Why were the seats left vacant?
According to medical experts, there are many reasons behind this. PG fees in many private medical colleges are very high, which ordinary and middle class families are unable to afford. In some states, there is a condition of government bond for a long time after completing PG, in which posting in difficult areas is mandatory. In surgery, anesthesia and some other branches, the work pressure is very high and there is also legal risk, hence students are staying away from these branches.
Apart from this, the working conditions of junior doctors, long hours and lack of security during training is also a big problem. Due to all these reasons, many seats remained vacant and the government had to take a big step like reducing the cut-off.
What will be the impact of this decision?
After this decision, the debate has intensified in the medical world. Many doctor organizations say that the students taking admission in PG later become surgeons, physicians, gynecologists and super specialists. If admission levels go too low, the quality of treatment and patient safety may be affected in the future.
The government’s argument is that all the candidates are already MBBS pass. There has been no change in the ranking system. The only purpose of reducing the cut-off is so that studies can start on the vacant seats and the shortage of doctors in the country can be bridged to some extent.
Why is NEET-PG such an important exam?
NEET-PG is one of the biggest and most important medical examinations in India. After doing MBBS, doctors take admission in post graduation through this examination.
Only after passing NEET-PG, doctors are able to do courses like MD, MS and later prepare for super specialties.
Also read – GATE 2026 admit card released, know important things before the exam
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