Hyderabad: Doctors’ associations in Telangana have raised strong objections to the National Board of Examinations (NBE) over its decision to sharply reduce the NEET-PG 2025-26 qualifying cut-off, a move that has made candidates with even negative scores eligible to qualify.
Terming the decision unprecedented and deeply concerning, the Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association- (HRDA) Telangana and the Telangana Senior Resident Doctors Association (T-SRDA) warned that it could seriously erode the standards of postgraduate medical education and put patient safety at risk.
HRDA said the move defeats the very purpose of NEET-PG, which serves as a national-level screening test to ensure that only competent medical graduates enter postgraduate training. In its Jan 13 notification, the NBE announced a steep reduction in the qualifying percentile across all categories, citing the need to fill vacant PG seats for the 2025-26 academic year. As a result, candidates with zero or even negative scores have become eligible to participate in counselling.
Describing the development as deeply alarming, HRDA argued that the diluted cut-off is not an isolated policy choice but the outcome of unchecked and irrational expansion of postgraduate seats, particularly in institutions that lack adequate infrastructure, faculty strength, patient load, and clinical exposure.
‘Dangerous precedent’
“A large number of PG seats remain vacant in colleges with substandard facilities, exposing serious gaps in regulation, accreditation, and monitoring under the National Medical Commission. Expanding undergraduate and post-graduate seats without parallel development of teaching hospitals and faculty is detrimental to medical education. Lowering qualifying standards to accommodate excess seats sets a dangerous precedent and risks accelerating the commercialisation of healthcare,” said a HRDA member.
Echoing these concerns, T-SRDA said the notification undermines academic integrity and public trust, raising serious questions about the competence of future specialists and the safety of patients.
The association urged the Centre, along with the NBE and the medical counselling committee, to withdraw the notification, restore a fair and merit-based cut-off, and strictly regulate medical seat expansion to safeguard the integrity of postgraduate medical education and healthcare services.
