The decision has been taken in an attempt to prevent “wastage of seats.” Dr B Srinivas, ADG (ME) and member secretary of the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) said, “approximately 8,000 seats were lying vacant after the completion of two rounds of all India quota and two rounds of state quota. By reducing the percentile by 15 points, the Health Ministry (MoHFW) in consultation with National Medical Commission (NMC) will allow approximately 25,000 candidates to participate in the mop up round and will prevent any wastage of seats.”

Earlier in the day, the MCC asked the National Board of Examinations (NBE) to declare the revised result after a decision was taken to reduce the cut-off of NEET-PG 2021. A letter by Dr Srinivas to NBE executive director Minu Bajpai stated that after due discussion, it has been decided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in consultation with MCC “to reduce the cut-off by 15 percentile across all categories”.

It further suggested that the qualifying percentile for the general category may be reduced to 35th percentile, for PH(Genl) to 30th percentile, and for the reserved category (SC.ST.OBC) to 25th percentile. “Kindly declare the revised result and send the revised result data of the newly eligible candidates at the earliest,” the letter read. 

Additionally, earlier this week, the National Medical Commission (NMC) of the Under Graduate Medical Education Board has removed the fixed upper age limit for appearing in the NEET-UG examination. NMC Secretary Dr Pulkesh Kumar in a letter to Dr Devvrat, Senior Director of the National Testing Agency (NTA) said that the decision was taken in the fourth meeting of the NMC held on October 21 last year.

The process for an official notification to amend the regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997 to this effect has also been initiated, the letter read. The Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) has welcomed the step adding that it will give a fair opportunity to maximum candidates willing to pursue MBBS.

(With inputs from agencies)