Mumbai: The National Medical Commission (NMC) on Friday announced a revamped process for postgraduate medical admissions under NEET PG-2024, introducing strict new guidelines to ensure transparency and a merit-based selection system. The Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) outlined significant changes aimed at eliminating malpractices and promoting fairness in the admissions process.
Under the new regulations, all admissions to PG medical courses will be conducted exclusively through a government agency. This approach ensures that candidates are selected solely on the basis of their NEET PG merit, preventing individual institutions from admitting students on their own terms.
In a further step towards transparency, all rounds of counselling for all seats will be conducted entirely online — which will be managed either by the central or the state governments — allowing for easy access and clear verification.
To enforce compliance with the new rules, the NMC has introduced strict penalties. Any student admitted outside the centralised counselling process may be discharged from the course, and the medical college involved could see a reduction in seat allocation for subsequent years. This measure is intended to curb unauthorised admissions and maintain the integrity of the selection system.
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Additionally, the NMC has clarified that all PG seats allocated through this regulated process will be recognised for registration purposes of additional qualifications, ensuring graduates are eligible for professional practice.
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will oversee the counselling process for the All India Quota (AIQ) seats, while state counselling bodies will manage seats within their respective jurisdictions. The NMC has advised students and parents to consult the official NMC website to review available PG seats at various institutions, along with the new regulations under the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations (PGMER) 2023, before making admission decisions. The NMC on Friday released the MBBS seat matrix in existing medical colleges and seats of the newly established medical colleges for the AY 2024-25 on its website.
The updated guidelines have been welcomed by students and parents, who view them as a step towards a more equitable and transparent admissions system.
“This change aims to curb malpractices often seen during institutional rounds, ensuring a fairer, merit-based system. This is a very welcome move by NMC. This will instil faith in the admission process in parents and candidates as it adds transparency to the admission process,” said Brijesh Sutaria, a Mumbai-based medical activist.
With these measures, the NMC aims to create a fairer playing field, ensuring that future medical professionals are selected based on merit alone, free from institutional biases and malpractices.
