At least six states, including Tamil Nadu, have banned the admission process for post graduate medical courses. In fact, till now the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has not released the individual score cards of NEET PG candidates even though the result of the exam was released on August 23 itself. The exam was held on August 11 in two shifts. NBEMS, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, had normalized the marks of the candidates and announced their percentile and rank.
According to the news of Times of India, Director of Medical Education Dr. J. “We have written to NBE demanding marks of students who have written letters. Without the marks, it will be difficult for us to conduct counselling, especially for in-service candidates,” Sangumani said. The state gives incentive marks up to 30 marks as incentive to in-service candidates working in hilly areas and difficult terrain. The officials tried to do reverse calculation by using percentile scores to calculate the marks. However, he found that it was not reliable. “We need individual marks of students otherwise we cannot add incentive marks. We need normalized marks,” he said.
Some candidates have approached the Supreme Court demanding transparency in NEET PG results. “We are hoping to start counseling based on the decision,” directorate officials said. The Medical Counseling Committee (MCC) under DGHS at the Center has started the NEET PG counseling registration process for Round 1, but has not yet released the information bulletin containing the complete admission schedule and details including the schedule.
However, NBE officials said they have discussed the issue in detail with the National Medical Commission. “Normalization is a very complex process, based on which the percentage and scores are decided. We will not be able to declare the scores. Percentage and rank are enough for admission. Ranks show the order of merit,” the official said.
No incentive marks
NMC officials said that they had already announced new guidelines for admission. The Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations-2023 do not allow states to give incentive marks to in-service candidates. “Instead, they should create a quota within the in-service quota to encourage candidates from rural, hilly or difficult terrain,” said a senior officer. “Doing so will ensure that eligibility in NEET is not compromised,” he said.
However, it is still uncertain whether this will benefit or harm candidates from rural areas. The Government Doctors' Association has said that NMC cannot decide the conditions for admission under state quota. He said, 'This matter has been settled in the court. It is wrong to raise it again and change the rules now. Many candidates are working in hilly and difficult areas, they are hoping for incentive marks. There are very few seats in some specialties, quota cannot be given in them.
