Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The stray round of NEET PG counselling will not benefit those who are looking for seat upgradation. The NEET PG 2025 stray vacancy round is designed to fill remaining vacant seats and does not allow seat upgradation, preventing those already holding seats from switching.
As per directorate of medical education, the stray vacancy round is conducted to fill seats that remain vacant after the completion of all main counselling rounds.
These vacancies arise due to reasons such as candidates not reporting after seat allotment, seat surrender by students, document mismatch resignation after joining, upgradation refusals.
The stray vacancy round is designed to allocate these leftover seats fairly based on merit and eligibility. It ensures maximum utilisation of postgraduate medical seats across government and private colleges.
Federation of All India Institute of Medical Association executive member Dr Akash Soni said, It was our demand that stray round counselling should benefit those looking for seat upgradation. But it is not happening. Stray round should be open for all. But it is not happening.
Dr Kuldeep Gupta, general secretary of IMA MP chapter, said, Stray round of NEET PG counselling does not benefit those looking for upgradation of seats. This is because the rules of stray round counselling are complex.
Dr Yogesh Neekhara, joint director, medical education, said that the objectives of the stray vacancy round are to prevent wastage of PG medical seats, to give deserving candidates a final chance, to ensure merit-based allocation, to complete the admission process before academic sessions begin.
Since postgraduate medical education involves limited seats and high competition, the stray vacancy round ensures that no opportunity is lost due to procedural lapses.
