Why is NEET PG counselling 2025 delayed? A familiar cycle of disruption returns
NEET PG counselling 2025: Thousands of doctors remain without work as the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduate (NEET PG) 2025 counselling for All-India Quota seats has been indefinitely postponed. Across hospitals and medical colleges that rely on postgraduate students as part of their clinical workforce, the delay has created a vacuum that administrators say will strain routine hospital services.On 6 November, 2025, more than three months after the entrance test was completed, and hours before students were due to submit their preferences, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) under the Directorate General of Health Services announced that Round 1 of NEET PG counselling 2025 had been extended until further notice.The committee said the seat matrix was being revised as the National Medical Commission (NMC) added new postgraduate seats, while the National Board of Examinations (NBE) withdrew 169 Diplomate of National Board (DNB) seats after counselling had begun.The postponement has triggered widespread criticism. “They had a whole year to grant colleges permission to start new courses or add seats. Why would they do this at the last minute? We got results on August 19 and have been waiting for admission,” said Dr S Sathish Kumar, one of the candidates awaiting allotment, TNN reports.Many aspirants, like Sathish, resigned from their jobs to prepare for the examination. Their absence is being felt in hospitals where postgraduate trainees shoulder much of the clinical workload. “They take on the main burden in speciality units. Their absence will be felt,” said Dr A Ramalingam of the Service and PG Doctors Association, in an interaction with TNN.
A pattern of delay
This year’s suspension fits a broader pattern. Since 2019, NEET PG counselling has rarely commenced on time, with delays caused by legal disputes, administrative bottlenecks, or both.Although the 2025 counselling process began on 17 October, nearly two months after results were announced on 19 August, it was again halted midway, repeating the cycle of uncertainty that has come to define postgraduate medical admissions.A look at the past years reveals how routine such interruptions have become.
From 2019 to 2025: The erosion of predictability
The last predictable cycle was in 2019, when results were released on 31 January and counselling began by mid-March. Subsequent years were marked by disruptions, first due to the pandemic in 2020, then a protracted Supreme Court case over reservation policy in 2021.Even when litigation subsided, procedural bottlenecks, delayed seat approvals, and periodic data verification issues kept pushing back timelines.By 2023, the process had stretched to a 135-day gap between result declaration and counselling. In 2024, though the interval narrowed, the schedule again shifted following legal scrutiny of exam transparency. This year’s delay underscores how administrative lapses continue to unsettle the academic calendar.
Hospitals and students in limbo
Thousands of medical graduates who cleared the examination remain without placement, and hospitals dependent on their services are left short-staffed; impact is immediate.For students, the uncertainty has become routine. For institutions, it signals another year of disrupted training schedules and operational strain.As the MCC works to finalise the revised seat matrix, no new dates have been announced. Until then, both candidates and hospitals remain in a familiar state of suspension, waiting for the system to move again.
