NEET must for overseas students

There’s a significant rise in the number of applicants for NEET-UG-2019 to be held on May 2. The increase is because NEET has been made mandatory for overseas MBBS students.
Overall, the number of seats in various medical colleges is being increased with more AIIMS (All-India Institute of Medical Sciences) being set up by the government and many new medical colleges being planned, giving aspirants greater opportunities to pursue their dreams of becoming doctors.


Over the years, female enrolment has seen a steady increase due to various factors. Rajshekhar Ratrey, VP, educational content head, Toppr, told TOI that the number of women candidates is around 1.5 lakh more than male candidates this year. The reason for this is not clear yet.

Navin C Joshi, academic head and VP (NEET and JEE), Gradeup, said NEET 2018 result figures reveal that the number of female candidates who qualified is higher compared to males when compared to JEE. In 2018, female candidates have been in equal standing with 55.99% aspirants qualifying as compared to 56.25% males. Among top 25 rankers, three were women in NEET 2018 and nine in 2017. With greater female aspirants being part of top rankers, this definitely motivates others to prepare for the exam.

As per MHRD, it will be an offline exam (pen and paper test) and conducted by National Testing Authority (NTA). NEET 2019 will offer admission to around 90,000 MBBS and BDS seats in medical and dental colleges of India, except AIIMS and JIPMER.

This year, the Supreme Court has allowed candidates with low vision to pursue MBBS course. Such aspirants need to appear and qualify in NEET 2019. The order passed on August 25, 2018 will allow MBBS aspirants suffering from various forms of visual impairment to avail the 5% admission reservation for persons with disability through the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.