NEET PG Exam: The Union Government of India has notified the Rajya Sabha that 1,140 postgraduate (PG) medical seats are still vacant following the completion of the NEET PG 2025 stray vacancy counselling round. Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, stated that these vacancies persist even after the NEET PG 2026 qualifying cutoff was reduced to “negative”.

NEET PG Counselling 2025: Seat Vacancy Details

As per the data presented on March 17, 2026, a total of 1,140 PG medical seats remain unfilled in both government and private medical colleges across the country. The authorities have expanded seat capacity and sanctioned 8,416 additional postgraduate seats to support aspirants. However, even after increasing the total number of PG medical seats to 58,331, over 1,000 seats are still vacant. Experts suggest that this is due to low student preference for non-clinical streams such as Physiology and Anatomy. Additionally, the high tuition fees in private colleges are also considered a major contributing factor.

No Proposal to Discontinue NEET

Addressing concerns regarding the future of the examination, the Union Government stated that there is no current proposal to eliminate NEET from the medical admission process. This clarification comes after resolutions passed by the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, which called for scrapping the national-level entrance test. These states have advocated for replacing NEET with state-level entrance examinations for medical admissions. However, the government reiterated that NEET is compulsory under Section 14 of the National Medical Commission Act to ensure a uniform and merit-based admission system.