New Delhi In considering the fact that more than 900 super-speciality seats remain vacant even after the NEET SS Mop-up round, doctors working under the alliance of the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA) recently urged the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) to hold another mop-up round to fill the open positions.
FORDA noted in a letter to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) that NEET SS seats are a national asset and should not be left empty. The group then requested the DGHS carry out a second mop-up round “in the wider interest of students and citizens who stand to benefit much from having more super-speciality doctors in the country.”
According to Dr. Sarvesh Pandey, General Secretary of FORDA, some students contacted the Supreme Court and requested permission to vacate seats. Other students have now submitted identical petitions after the Supreme Court granted their requests, and some other students have also requested the same from the court.
Those seats should be included in the mop-up round as well, according to the Supreme Court. In India, there is one super-speciality doctor for every 4000 patients. So, we want these seats to be occupied and not be later added.
Dr. Pandey provided additional information about the 900 seats that are currently unfilled, stating that the majority of them are held by private institutions, but some are also held by the government.
Given that more than 1,000 seats were vacant, FORDA has encouraged the authorities to perform a mop-up round. Prior to this, Medical Dialogues claimed that the organisation had made reference to the fact that more than 1000 super speciality seats remained vacant even after Rounds 1 and 2 of NEET SS 2022 Counselling were over.
In this regard, FORDA has written to the DGHS, operating under the Union Health Ministry, and pointed out that the wastage of seats is a “major academic and healthcare loss.”
In a recent letter, the association made reference to this by writing, “As you are aware, the NEET exam was given last year, and two counselling rounds were held to fill up the available seats. And even after these two rounds, almost 1500 seats were still unfilled.
“In this regard, we had previously contacted your reputable office and the Medical Counseling Committee (MCC) to ask them to carry out a mop-up round to fill these open seats. “Then, a notification to hold a mop-up round was released in February, and the qualification cut-off was also lowered,” said the letter in more detail.
 The group drew attention to the fact that in February, a bench of the Supreme Court had permitted a few candidates who had been given seats in the first two rounds to renounce those seats and withdraw from the counselling process. As a result, the authorities announced that they will also include those seats in the mop-up round on February 14, 2023.
“Despite these efforts, there are still about 500+, or about 900 according to our data, open seats. In addition, many students have filed lead petitions in the hopes of receiving similar relief “FORDA cited in the DGHS’s most recent letter (“FORDA”).
FORDA requested the DGHS take notice of the situation and find a cooperative solution, reiterating that NEET SS seats are a national asset and should not be vacant.
The association has recommended that another mop-up round be taken into consideration for the greater good of the students and citizenry, who stand to gain much from having more super-speciality doctors in the nation.
“Furthermore, we humbly urge that the seats that were allocated to candidates but were not filled by them be included in this mop-up round to increase the pool of available seats in an effort to reduce seat waste. If they decide not to continue with it, your esteemed office may start a procedure to allow them to resign their seat,” the letter went on to say.
