NEET-PG 2026: Why India Needs a Hard Reset in Medical Education

Published January 26, 2026 · Updated January 28, 2026

At a Glance: The NEET-PG Reform Crisis

The Problem: The 2025-26 qualifying criteria have dropped to the zero percentile, effectively allowing candidates with negative scores (-40) to qualify.
Systemic Impact: The “Missing Batch” phenomenon has forced current junior residents into 100-hour work weeks, directly compromising patient safety and the mental health of residents.
Need of the Hour: 1) Restore the “Exam in January, Joining in May” timeline. 2) Urge courts to treat medical admission stays as public health emergencies. 3) Analyse why seats are remaining vacant requiring a lowering of cut-offs.

The qualifying score for the 2025-26 NEET-PG session has been revised. The cut-off is now the zero percentile. In an exam with negative marking, this technically makes a candidate with ‘-40’ (negative forty) marks eligible for a specialist seat.

It is easy to react with outrage. It is easy to mock the system on social media. But my diagnosis is that this is not just a drop in standards… it is a symptom of a much deeper, systemic problem.

The Reform That Worked

First, let us give credit where it is due. The 2017 implementation of NEET-PG was a necessary correction. Before 2017, medical admissions were defined by unregulated chaos. Students had to face a dozen different entrance exams, often traveling across the country with no guarantee of fairness. “Seat blocking” syndicates and institutional frauds like the Vyapam scandal were merely the tips of a deep-seated corruption iceberg ¹ ².

By enforcing a “One Nation, One Exam” policy, the central government successfully dismantled the retail corruption of seat-selling. That was a significant win. However, a transparent system is not useful if it does not run on time. We have traded the corruption of the past for the delays and dilutions of the present.

The “COVID Excuse” Has Expired

The current justification for these chronic delays, and the subsequent lowering of cut-offs to rush admissions, is the lingering impact of the pandemic.

That argument has run its course. The pandemic disrupted the 2020-21 timeline, yes. But we are in January 2026. To be still struggling with the 2025 admission cycle, which should have ideally been completed in May 2025, is not an “Act of God,” but inertia.

The uncertainty is multifactorial. We have seen legal hurdles, procedural delays, and the sudden cancellation of the exam in June 2024 due to integrity issues ³. The government lowered the cut-off to zero not out of academic wisdom, but out of a desperate need to “clear the backlog” before the 2026 cycle starts.

The Human Cost: 100-Hour Weeks

We must look beyond the numbers and see the faces of the junior residents currently in the wards. Teaching hospitals rely on a “three-batch” system of residents (first, second, and third years) to function. Currently, many hospitals are running on two, or even one-and-a-half batches.

The result? Existing doctors are working 100-hour weeks to plug the gaps. This leads to burnout, medical errors, and a decline in patient empathy… factors that directly impact the quality of healthcare in our government and private institutions ⁴ ⁵.

The Need of the Hour: Reset to Reform

The Ministry of Health and the National Board of Examinations (NBEMS) must do a hard reset. A government capable of unifying the medical exams of a nation as diverse as ours is certainly capable of the simpler task of maintaining a calendar.

A Predictable Calendar: The “Exam in January, Joining in May” timeline must be sacrosanct. The uncertainty has affected the morale of aspirants and the workflow of hospitals.
Judicial Priority: We must respectfully advocate for a faster legal process related to medical entrance examinations. Courts should treat NEET-PG cases with the same urgency as public health emergencies. When admissions are stayed for months, wards go understaffed and patient care suffers directly.
Analyse: If a seat remains vacant, we must analyze why. Is it the high fees of private colleges or the lack of interest in certain specialties? Lowering the cut-off to zero is a temporary band-aid on a broken bone.

Conclusion

It is time for a hard reset. We want the pre-exam and post-exam processes to be permanently streamlined. The success of NEET was in its transparency, but the current failure is in its execution.

Let us fix the calendar and restore the dignity of the profession. In 2027, I hope we are discussing the latest medical breakthroughs and the merit of our students, rather than debating the logistics of delays and the dilution of standards.

Shashikiran Umakanth

Dr. Shashikiran Umakanth (MBBS, MD, FRCP Edin.) is the Professor & Head of Internal Medicine at Dr. TMA Pai Hospital, Udupi, under the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE). While he has contributed to nearly 100 scientific publications in the academic world, he writes on MEDiscuss out of a passion to simplify complex medical science for public awareness.

References

CBI Files Supplementary Chargesheet Against 73 Accused VYAPAM Scam in a Case Related to MPPMT-2012 Examination. Link. Date accessed: 26 Jan. 2026.
Rao, Sujatha. When corruption becomes the norm and ethical conduct an exception. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, [S.l.], v. 1, n. 1 (NS), p. 54, nov. 2016. ISSN 0975-5691. Available at Link. Date accessed: 26 Jan. 2026.
Press Trust of India. (2024). NEET-PG postponed: Students, parents say exam mess heightening stress, tension. Link. Date accessed: 26 Jan. 2026.
Lal JV, Mirza K, Krishnakumar M, Johnson RC, D’Souza MC. Empathy, Burnout, and Perceived Stress Among Postgraduate Medical Trainees in India: A Cross-Sectional Study. Indian J Orthop. 2025 Jul 12;59(10):1744-1752. Link. Date accessed: 26 Jan. 2026.
Priyam P, Sil A. Burnout: The Resident Evil – Perspectives from the Horses’ Mouth! Indian Dermatol Online J. 2020 Sep 19;11(5):816-817. Link. Date accessed: 26 Jan. 2026.