Centre lowers NEET medical PG cut-offs

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 24

In a major move today, the Ministry of Health lowered by 7.5 percentile the cut-offs for admissions to the medical postgraduate stream through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Exam (NEET) 2017-18.

A 7.5 percentile across-the-board cut was made for all categories to ensure prized PG seats did not go vacant.

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At previous cut-off levels, not enough candidates qualified for admissions. Medical Council of India PG rules permit lowering of qualifying marks when enough qualifiers are not available at current admission criteria.

The new cut-offs are 42.5 percentile for general candidates, 32.5 for reserved category candidates and 37.5 percentile for persons with disabilities (PWD).

Previous qualifying criteria were marks at the 50th percentile for general category, 40th percentile for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and 45th percentile for PWD category.

NEET–PG  was conducted by the National Board of Examinations for admission to all post-graduate medical courses in the country from December 5 to 13 last year. This lowering is applicable for the 2017 academic year. Around 9,000 more candidates will benefit. 

Madras HC stays result publication

The Madras High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on the publication of NEET results across the country. The court’s Madurai Bench also directed officials of the MCI, CBSE Director and Health Ministry to file their counter-affidavits on June 7. PTI