The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has lowered the NEET-PG 2025 qualifying percentile for the third round of counselling, sparking widespread alarm across India’s medical community. According to the January 13 notification, the percentile has been reduced from 50th to 7th for the general category, 45th to 5th for PwD candidates, and to zero for SC, ST, and OBC candidates—allowing even students with negative marks, as low as -40 out of 800, to compete for postgraduate medical seats.
Authorities cited the need to fill vacant PG seats, but doctors and academicians in Odisha warn that such drastic relaxation threatens the quality of medical education and patient safety. Senior physicians argue that postgraduate training demands a strong foundation to manage intensive care units, emergencies, and life-threatening conditions, and that admitting academically underprepared candidates could compromise healthcare standards.
Experts also emphasised that reservation policies are meant to ensure representation, not eliminate merit, and that zero percentile undermines academic accountability. Public health specialists warn that poorly trained specialists jeopardise patients directly and may weaken the overall healthcare system, as today’s PG doctors become tomorrow’s educators, policymakers, and hospital leaders.
While the policy may temporarily address vacant seats, the long-term impact could be damaging, creating a precedent for future examinations and eroding standards across India’s medical institutions. Critics insist that access and inclusion cannot come at the cost of competence in a profession where human lives are at stake, and caution that the consequences of underqualified doctors will be borne first and foremost by patients.
As India seeks to strengthen its global healthcare standing, the medical fraternity calls for balancing inclusivity with rigorous academic standards, warning that the NBEMS decision risks compromising both.
