NEET PG Cut-off 2023 Reduced: SFI demands immediate withdrawal, calls it ‘discriminatory’

NEW DELHI: Students' Federation of India (SFI) opposed the Union health ministry’s approval to reduce NEET PG cut-off 2023 to zero and called it ‘discriminatory’. It said that the decision taken by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) was ‘solely aimed to fill vacant seats in private colleges’.

On September 20, the Union health ministry approved reduction of NEET PG qualifying cut-off marks 2023 to zero allowing all candidates who appeared in the postgraduate medical and dental entrance exam to participate in the admission counselling process.

“Despite two rounds of counselling, these seats remained empty because students who had surpassed the "ORIGINAL CUTOFF" marks (set previously) were unwilling or unable to afford the exorbitant fees demanded by these colleges for PG courses,” the students group said.

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It said that the decision reflects “a lack of regard for merit” and also “signals the government's direction to privatize the education sector and destroy the merit of the medical community”.

The move also highlights the belief in prioritizing financial capability over merit in medical education, it said.

“Medical education is becoming a corporate investment sector with rampant privatization, neglecting whether these professionals will serve the community effectively. This trend has intensified with the implementation of the NMC Act,” SFI president VP Sanu and general secretary Mayukh Biswas said.

The students group demanded immediate withdrawal of the MCC notification and to increase the number of PG seats in government medical colleges.

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Stating that the Right to Health is an impossible goal without restructuring the medical education sector, the group said: “In the long term, bringing all medical, technical and professional education institutions under public control and restructuring medical education with the ultimate aim of ensuring Health For All.”

It also demanded regulation of fee structures of MBBS, PG medical courses in private medical colleges.