The Health Ministry has directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to reduce the cut-off for the qualifying percentile for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-Post Graduate (PG) 2023 to “zero” across all categories.
The Health Ministry in its letter said that the recommendation for a reduction in the qualifying percentile for postgraduate courses for 2023 (NEET PG 2023) has been considered and the approval of competent authority is hereby conveyed for the reduction of the qualifying percentile for NEET PG 2023 to ‘Zero’ across all categories.
Currently, the NEET PG Cut-Off percentile is 50 for students from general/unreserved categories, 45 for PwD and 40 for students of other reserved categories.
As per a report by TOI, this year, candidates with a zero percentile have scored minus 40.
The PG NEET marking system awards four marks for a right answer and a negative mark for a wrong response. The lowest score recorded in PG Neet 2023 is minus 40 and this candidate is also eligible to join a PG programme now.
“The qualifying percentile for PG Courses (Medical/ Dental) for NEET PG Counselling 2023 has been reduced to ‘ZERO’ across all categories by MoHFW. In this regard, it is mentioned that Fresh Registration & Choice Filling for Round-3 of PG Counselling will be opened again for candidates who have become eligible after reduction of percentile. Candidates who have become freshly eligible can register and participate in Round-3 of counselling,” the Directorate General of Health Services said in a circular.
Previously, the Indian Medical Association had also written to the Health Ministry asking for a reduction in the cut-off marks for the NEET PG 2023 exam, which they said would ensure that a significant number of aspiring doctors could enrol for postgraduate programmes in various medical colleges across the country, and not a single postgraduate seat would go vacant. “We request you to reduce the NEET PG 2023 cut off percentile up to 30% so that most of the seats are filled in both clinical and non-clinical branches,” the Association wrote in its letter to the Ministry.
