Health Minister reviews NEET UG 2026 counselling preparedness; online registration introduced

Union Health Minister & Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness for the upcoming National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) Counselling 2026 and reiterated the Centre's commitment to ensuring a transparent, merit-based, technology-enabled and student-friendly admission process for undergraduate medical courses. MCC NEET 2026 Counselling Schedule LIVE

According to the PIB report, the review assessed the readiness of the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), for counselling of All India Quota (AIQ) and other seats under its purview. The ministry reviewed the counselling schedule, IT infrastructure, cybersecurity arrangements, grievance redressal mechanism, applicant facilitation measures and coordination with participating institutions.

Jagat Prakash directed officials to ensure robust technical support, prompt grievance redressal and uninterrupted functioning of the counselling portal. He also asked them to take proactive measures to address applicant's concerns throughout the admission process.

Also read NEET Counselling 2026: In NMC’s new rules for PwBD admissions, individualised reports, chance to appeal

Technology-driven reforms for counselling

As per the PIB report, the Minister was informed that the NEET UG Counselling 2026 will introduce several technology-enabled reforms to simplify admissions and improve transparency. The one time physical reporting system is one of the significant changes. Once seat allotment is done, candidates will have the option of freeze or float on the website.

Candidates who choose the freeze option will be informed to appear at their allocated institute for verification of document and payment of fee. Those who choose the float option can do document verification at home while participating in the subsequent counselling round(s), with document verification in person only at the third round. The resignation facility has also been introduced online, where eligible candidates can submit the resignation of the allotted seats through the MCC portal.

PwBD, NRI reforms and candidate support

According to the PIB report, during the review session, the online document verification and document validation from the National Medical Commission (NMC) pre-populated candidate data from the National Testing Agency (NTA) were done by the seat matrix. Assessment centres for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) have been expanded from 16 to 61 and an appellate disability assessment board has been established.

Also read NEET UG 2026 Counselling: MCC rolls out online seat upgrade, resignation facility

The admissions will now be completely digitised, where online registration, submission and verification of documents will supersede the previous email-based method of doing so. The minister was apprised that the preparedness in cyber security has been reviewed with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the officials associated with counselling have been provided with cyber security training.

Candidates have also been provided a toll-free helpline and grievance redressal mail to help them. NEET UG 2026 results were released on July 16 and AIQ MBBS, BDS and BSc (Hons.) counselling will be conducted. Nursing seats will be expected to start soon.