The National Medical Commission (NMC), the regulator of medical education in the country, plans to replace the percentile system with a rank-based one for admission to postgraduate and super-specialty (SS) courses. The move is aimed at reducing delays between counseling rounds. This year, admissions to PG and SS courses have been badly delayed in all States, including Chhattisgarh. However, doctors and medical students in the State argue that the change will not solve the problem of candidates with poor scores becoming eligible for seats, since the qualifying cut-off will effectively disappear. “The NMC is in the process of issuing new regulations, which are yet to be finalised. Under them, only a rank-based system will be adopted for NEET-PG and SS counseling.

 

No percentile marks will be declared in the results, and candidates will be given only ranks,” says a circular issued by the commission. Officials say the rank-based system will remove the need for permission from a competent authority to lower the qualifying percentile, which has been a cause of delay. This will help complete counseling within the prescribed timeframe. Most doctors in the State, however, are unhappy with the step and fear it will create problems in future admissions. Dr Akhilesh Tripathi, a senior office-bearer of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Chhattisgarh chapter, said the core of the debate is that even candidates with negative marks become eligible for PG seats. “The rank-based system will not bring any significant change in seat allocation, even for candidates scoring as low as -20 marks, as has happened in the past,” he said.

 

He added that the NMC has not yet said whether it will keep the cut-off at a minimum of zero marks. Dr Dibjyoti Singharoy, associate professor at a medical college and a medical educationist, said standards should not be compromised merely because seats remain vacant. He suggested that the NMC should identify seats that have stayed vacant for several consecutive years and cancel them. In many non-clinical branches, he noted, even graduates with the lowest NEET-PG scores are unwilling to take admission. Dr HS Lodhi, a final-year SS student at Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Medical College, Raipur, said the move would affect the quality of medical education and urged the NMC to reconsider it. Meanwhile, non-clinical branches are already struggling to fill seats. Owing to this, some private institutions are reportedly planning to shut these departments from the 2027-28 academic session.