NEET SS 2021 Counselling: Health ministry asks NMC to conduct special mop-up round

NEW DELHI: On the request of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) Super-Specialty 2021 candidates, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has directed the National Medical Commission to conduct an additional mop-up round with reduced percentile to fill vacant SS seats.

Also Read | NEET SS 2022: NBE postpones exam until further notice

The president of Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA), Rohan Krishnan tweeted, “Thanks to MoHFW_INDIA for hearing the pleas of NEET SS candidates. Requesting NMC_IND to intervene in the matter immediately. Conduct a counselling with reduced cut off bar.”

Thanks to @MoHFW_INDIA for hearing the pleas of NEET SS candidates.
Requesting @NMC_IND to intervene in the matter immediately.
Conduct a counselling with reduced cut off bar. pic.twitter.com/iVDetjL8Xz

— Dr. Rohan Krishnan (@DrRohanKrishna3) June 15, 2022

In a letter to NMC, the health ministry said, “After conduct two rounds of counselling and one mop-up round of counselling, 930 super specialty seats (534 DM, MCh and 396 DNB seats) are still lying vacant. All these seats are clinical super specialty seats including some government medical colleges.”

The issue was examined in the health ministry and after consultation, it has been decided to conduct a special mop-up round to fill the remaining seats after reducing the percentile “appropriately”, it said. The Ministry urged NMC to examine the matter and reply at the earliest.

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In late April, FAIMA wrote to union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, requesting to reduce the eligibility criteria for the NEET SS 2021 counselling mop-up round citing that a high cut-off will prevent a huge number of doctors willing to pursue super specialisation this year from meeting the cut-off criteria, resulting in vacant seats and wastage of one year for NEET SS 2022 preparation.

In a related development, recently the Supreme Court refused to order additional mop-up round for filling vacant nursing seats and dismissed a batch of petitions seeking a special stray round of counselling to fill 1,456 seats in NEET PG 2021 which have remained vacant after the conduct of a stray round of counselling for All India Quota.