Sharp NEET-PG Cut-Off Drop Sparks Patient Safety Concerns in Telangana
The recent drastic reduction in the cut-off for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET-PG) seats has triggered significant worry among Telangana's medical professionals. This concern stems from the third round of counselling conducted by the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS), where numerous PG medical seats, including those in high-risk clinical and surgical specialties, were filled by candidates with exceptionally low scores.
Alarming Admissions with Minimal Scores
The counselling list reveals that candidates with poor scores have gained admission into premier institutions across the state. In a striking example, a candidate with a score of just 1 out of 800 and an all-India rank of 229,981 secured an MS orthopaedics seat at a prominent private medical college in Hyderabad. Similarly, PG seats in forensic medicine and pathology at a noted government medical college in the city were allotted to candidates who scored only 12 and 24 marks, respectively.
Policy Shift and Its Implications
In January this year, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), in collaboration with the central health ministry, lowered the qualifying percentiles from the 50th to the seventh for the general category. This move aimed to fill over 18,000 vacant PG seats nationwide for the 2025–26 academic session. Under the revised criteria, candidates from OBC, SC, ST, and PwD categories are now deemed eligible for counselling even with negative scores.
Following this policy revision, several candidates in Telangana have secured seats in prestigious institutions such as Osmania Medical College (OMC), Gandhi Medical College (GMC), and other reputed colleges. These admissions include high-demand specialties like orthopaedics, paediatrics, and general medicine.
Doctors Voice Grave Concerns
Dr. Ajay Kumar Goud, general secretary of the Telangana Junior Residents Doctors' Association (T-JUDA), expressed deep apprehension. "Surgical branches such as orthopaedics and paediatric surgery have always been among the most in-demand specialties. Filling these seats with candidates scoring as low as one mark reflects a system under severe strain," he stated. "Allowing clinical and surgical branches to be filled at near-zero percentiles is a serious dilution of standards and directly risks patient safety."
Structural Issues and Historical Context
Experts emphasize that merely lowering percentiles will not address systemic flaws if infrastructure and faculty shortages persist. Dr. Kiran Madhala, secretary-general of the Telangana Teaching Government Doctors Association (TTGDA), highlighted deeper problems. "The issue points to deeper structural problems—rapid expansion of PG seats without proportional growth in trained faculty, overcrowded classrooms, and declining bedside training."
The current policy marks a departure from the central government's earlier stance. In July 2022, while opposing a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking a reduction in NEET-PG cut-offs, the government argued that minimum qualifying standards were essential to maintain academic quality. The High Court had upheld that lowering standards in medical education could "wreak havoc on society."
Long-Term Consequences and Calls for Merit
Doctors warn that the repercussions of this trend may manifest years later. Dr. Kiran Madhala added, "Training gaps today will reflect when these doctors practise independently. Critical specialties require quick, high-risk decision-making, and this trend may weaken emergency care services."
Dr. Srinath Dubyala, president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, stressed the importance of merit-based selection. "While measures like conducting NEET twice a year may help reduce vacancies, they cannot replace merit-based selection. Any dilution of eligibility criteria compromises clinical excellence and public trust."
