Recently significant changes have been made regarding eligibility criteria of different medical entrance exams. This year, two major changes were observed. In the NEET PG exam, unexpectedly, the qualifying cutoff was reduced from 50th percentile to zero percentile. This directly implied that if a student did not attempt  even a single question in the NEET PG exam, he/she would still be considered eligible for PG admissions.Another decision was recently made regarding NEET UG, ending the mandatory requirement of studying Biology/Biotechnology as a core subject in the twelfth grade. The NMC described this as a step in line with the new education policy.Both of these decisions sparked discussions in the medical fraternity, and The Pacemakers team discussed this topic with some doctors, medical students, and experts.

On the issue of Zero percentile for NEET PG Dr Lakshya Mittal National President of UDFA says,"I feel it is a significant victory and a boon to the medical fraternity."It is a positive step taken by the Health Ministry.If we examine the data and records, thousands of non-clinical seats remain vacant every year. Even the government aspires to fill these seats.For students who wish to pursue non-clinical branches like anatomy, physiology,bio chemistry etc it's a great opportunity.One  cannot judge the quality of doctors solely on the basis of their NEET-PG exam score.They have studied all 19 subjects, before taking the NEET-PG exam. A three-and-a-half-hour exam cannot determine the competence of a doctor,says Dr Lakshya Mittal.Now even NEET SS students are in the same situation.Hundreds of NEET SS aspirants are approaching UDFA via tweets/mails for getting  relaxation in the cutoff for NEET SS because less number of students have qualified due to diffiult level of exam.,adds Dr Lakshya.

Dr Pradeep Arora Senior Pediatrician from Jabalpur says," Government/N.M.C's policy allowing zero percentile admissions in NEET for postgraduate courses seems to favor private medical colleges, enabling them to charge exorbitant fees from students. This is viewed as legalized corruption, an alleged unholy alliance between medical college owners and those who make such policies. The concern is that such admissions compromise the quality of doctors, negatively impacting public health. Additionally, the lenient approach towards accrediting medical colleges, with fines as the primary penalty for non-compliance, raises concerns about the integrity of the education system."

Dr Preeti Gupta,Senior Gynecologist from Varanasi says that while reducing qualifying percentile to zero for NEET PG 2023,the excuse given by govt was to address the issue of numerous unfilled seats in non-clinical branches every year, causing faculty shortages in medical colleges. It is only partly true.Every year hundreds of clinical seats in private medical colleges remain vacant due to a low number of NEET-qualified students capable of affording the hefty fees. The main objective of setting the qualifying percentile to zero was to fill these private college seats. 

The data compiled from various sources suggest that in the year 2020 around 2500, in the year 2021 around 2300 and in the year 2022 around 4500 seats were filled after reducing the cutoff further from the first qualifying percentile.Around two third of these seats were actually clinical seats of private colleges .A report  in media estimated a significant financial loss for private colleges due to these vacant seats, amounting to nearly a thousand crores.

Experts suggest that instead of reducing the qualifying percentile to fill these seats, controlling the fees in private colleges would allow high-scoring students to access these seats.

Tracking the Percentile system in NEET  

01. Dec 2010- MCI notified in gazette about one common national level exam NEET for entrance in medical colleges of India. In the gazette notification 50 percent in NEET (UG as well as PG ) was the qualifying criteria 

02. Feb 2012- By another gazette notification 50 percent was amended to 50 percentile

03. 2013 - NEET UG was conducted for the first time in India.

04. July 18, 2013- The three judge bench of Hon. SC, in a 2-1 majority decision held NEET order by MCI invalid and decides that MCI was not empowered to conduct NEET,gazette notification of Dec 2010 was dismissed.

05. April 28, 2016- The five judge bench of Hon.SC reviewed the 2013 decision and the decision was called back,the bench allowed MCI to conduct NEET.Considering the hardship to students due to short notice, students who could not prepare well or appear in the May16 exam, were given a second opportunity in July 2016(NEET 2) on certain terms.

06. Since then NEET is conducted every year. On pretext of  PG seats remaining vacant , sometimes govt gives relaxation in qualifying percentile.

07. Last year govt refused to cut down qualifying percentile further on the ground that medical profession is a  profession where quality of doctors matters and the country can't afford to compromise with the quality.Hon.court agreed with govt's stance.

08. Sept 2023- Govt takes a U turn from its earlier stand and makes Zero percentile as qualifying criteria.