IMA: Don't Dilute Merit For PG Seats

New Delhi :The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Wednesday warned against compromising merit and minimum academic standards to fill vacant postgraduate medical seats, as the National Medical Commission (NMC) proposed replacing the percentile-based NEET-PG and NEET-SS admission system with a rank-based mechanism.

The NMC has given in-principle approval to the proposal, under which examination results would declare ranks instead of percentile scores for admissions to postgraduate and super-speciality medical courses. The proposal is yet to be notified, and draft regulations are expected to be issued for stakeholder consultation.

Welcoming the move towards a transparent and time-bound counselling process, the IMA cautioned that the proposed change should not become a means of admitting candidates with inadequate academic competency merely to fill vacant seats. "Medical education is not merely about filling seats; it is about creating competent specialists who will be responsible for human lives," IMA president Dr Anil Kumar J.

Nayak said. He maintained that no candidate should become eligible for postgraduate medical education through arbitrary relaxation of qualifying standards. The proposal forms part of recommendations submitted by a 12-member expert committee to the Supreme Court.

It seeks to reduce delays between counselling rounds and ensure completion of admissions within the academic calendar. Under the existing system, qualifying percentiles have been repeatedly lowered during counselling to fill vacant seats, raising concerns that candidates with very low or even negative scores could become eligible for admission.

The proposed rank-based mechanism is expected to eliminate the need for separate approvals to reduce qualifying percentiles in subsequent counselling rounds. However, the IMA said changing the admission mechanism alone would not address the reasons behind vacant seats. IMA headquarters finance secretary Dr Piyush Jain attributed vacancies to disproportionately high fees, inadequate infrastructure, faculty shortages, stipend disparities and unattractive working conditions in certain specialities.

He said structural reforms were needed to make less-preferred specialities and institutions more attractive to medical graduates rather than lowering eligibility standards. The association also called for uniform and transparent counselling, timely completion of admissions and consultations with medical colleges, faculty members, resident doctors and other stakeholders before finalising the regulations.

"Every PG seat should be filled through a fair process, but never at the cost of merit, medical competence and patient safety," the IMA said.