The National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) is going to undergo a major change in the admission format for PG. The Medical Commission (NMC) will now declare candidates’ ranks instead of NEET PG percentile for counseling admissions. For admission in NEET PG as well as NEET SS, now percentile based system is to be done away with rank based system. NMC has given in-principle approval to this change. This information has been given by the 12-member expert committee constituted to review the NEET-PG admission and counseling process in the Supreme Court in its report.
Let’s know the whole matter in detail. Let’s know why merit rank needs to be released instead of percentile for admission. In the new system, candidates will know whether their percentile will be declared along with their rank or not.
Only the rank of the candidates will be declared
Under the change, the NMC will soon declare the rank of candidates appearing in NEET PG and NEET SS while declaring their results. The percentage of candidates will not be released in the new system. In the current system, the percentage of candidates in NEET PG and NEET SS is released.
Now the rules for leaving ranks will be finalised
The 12-member expert committee constituted to review the NEET-PG admission and counseling process has said in its report to the Supreme Court that the rules for release of ranks are yet to be decided. The proposal has received in-principle approval in the NMC meeting held on September 23, the report said. For this reference is made to the letter written by the NMC Secretary to the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) dated 1 October 2026.
The report said that the NMC is preparing to bring in new rules. In this, only rank based system will be adopted for NEET PG and NEET SS counselling. The percentile marks will not be mentioned in the result. Only the rank of the candidates will be declared.
Changes after admission rules to minus 40 percentile
Last year, the central government lowered the qualifying cutoff of NEET PG 2025. This reduction in the qualifying cutoff was made for admission. Under the revised norms, the qualifying score was reduced from 276 to minus 103 for general category, while it was reduced from 235 to minus 40 for SC/ST/OBC categories. This decision was challenged in the Supreme Court, which the Supreme Court is hearing these days. In this regard, a 12-member expert committee was constituted, which has submitted its report.
Regarding reducing the qualifying cutoff, the report said that the dignity of NEET exams should be maintained. The report said that the qualifying cutoff in postgraduate medical education should not be lowered so low that even candidates with very poor or negative performance become eligible for admission. The importance of competitive examinations should not be limited to an administrative formality.
