Lower cut-offs for PG medical courses in Maharashtra to allow more students

The Directorate of Medical Education & Research (DMER) has reopened registrations for postgraduate candidates and changes are being introduced to the admissions schedule after the Ministry of Health decided to reduce the cut-offs for postgraduate courses.

“Many seats, especially in deemed institutes have been going vacant, so the government decided to reduce eligibility in order to make more students eligible for admissions,” said Dr Pravin Shingare, director, DMER.

As per the new schedule, new registrations will be accepted until May 5, and a provisional list will be released on May 8 at 5pm.

“Candidates who have already registered need not register again. The registrations are open only for those who haven’t registered due to lower scores,” said Shingare.

“For newly registered candidates, online preference filling process will take place between May 9 and 11,” states a circular uploaded on the DMER website. The provisional merit list for newly registered candidates will be announced on May 12.

Until recently, students had to score 50 percentile or more in the postgraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in order to qualify for a seat in medical institutes under the general category. The cut-off was 40 percentile and 45 percentile for students from reserved categories and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) respectively.

In the last week of April, the Ministry of Health reduced the overall cut-off by 15% in each category for admissions. This means a student in the general category with only 35 percentile can qualify for a seat.

Experts feel this move may adversely affect the quality of students in medical institutes. “Someone with barely 25 percentile score in NEET-PG getting a seat in institutes will lower the standard of students completely,” said an official from the state medical education department, on condition of anonymity. “This is not a healthy move.”

Meanwhile, the DMER is yet to reveal the new schedule for the second round of admissions to students who have already registered for postgraduate admissions. The SC had called for a stay last week, following a petition filed by some students who had demanded for an extra round of common admission to All India Quota (AIQ) seats. “The SC heard the case on Wednesday, but the final judgment in this matter is still pending. We cannot conduct the second round of admissions till then,” said Shingare.