FAIMA's appeal to revise cutoff criteria for NEET-PG stokes controversy

The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) recently appealed to the National Medical Commission that after the unprecedented delay in NEET-PG 2021 counselling process, almost an entire academic year of students has been wasted.

New Delhi:As the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war forced thousands of Indian medical aspirants from the European country to return home, the Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has appealed to the National Medical Commission (NMC) to revise the cutoff criteria for NEET- PG-2021 examinations. However, FAIMA's call has now sparked a debate among the medical fraternity.

"This can't be a regular phenomenon. Although keeping the present scenario, the government can think over relaxing cut off marks for one time," said Dr Tamorish Kole, a renowned medical expert and president of Asian Society of Emergency Medicine, adding that such cut off marks are placed to induct genuine medical aspirants.

The FAIMA had recently appealed to the National Medical Commission (NMC) that after the unprecedented delay in NEET PG 2021 counselling process, almost the entire academic year has been wasted, and now a high cutoff score means that medical students who fail to meet the criteria, will not be able to enter medical colleges, thereby causing 6000 seats to go vacant.

The current cutoff marks for the NEET-PG exam for the unreserved category are 302, for the reserved category (SC/ST/OBC) are 265 and for the reserved categories of people with disabilities, the cutoff marks are 283. It may be mentioned here that these are absolute marks that have been kept as cut off marks to get selected in NEET and PG.

As a result of high cutoff scores, aspiring medical students will not only be prevented from entering post-graduation but will also be compelled to travel overseas to pursue their stream field of post-graduation, further depleting the medical manpower pool in India.

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"We cannot afford to lose these precious gems in such a time when the counter needs a full-blown medical army to protect citizens from upcoming variants or any other epidemic that may occur. We have already lost the life of one aspiring doctor in the Russia-Ukraine war and the lives of many are still at the stake," said Dr Hareesh Pathak, General Secretary of FAIMA.

The association further said that refusal to reduce cut off scores, may negatively impact the medical fraternity by leaving many seats vacant in postgraduate courses. However, NMC's decision to keep 50 per cent of private medical seats at government college fees is expected to help a good number of medical aspirants.

"Yes, it's a good decision. Keeping 50 per cent seats of private medical college similar to the level of government medical college fee would definitely help a good number of aspiring medical students," said Dr Giridhar Gyani, director general of Association of Health Care Providers-India (AHCPI).

As per statistics, there are approximately 500 medical colleges including private and government in India and 70,000 to 80,000 students get admitted every year.

"Due to shortage of seats and high price in private medical colleges, many of the bright students prefer to go abroad to pursue their study...so the announcement to keep 50 per cent seats in private medical colleges at government college fee structure is most welcome," said Dr Tamorish Kole.