NEET PG 2026 PwD Assessment: Appeal Window Open Now

The NEET PG 2026 PwD assessment for Round 1 is open now. The Primary Medical Assessment Board closes at 5:00 pm on 9 October 2026. The Appellate Medical Assessment Board runs until 5:00 pm on 12 October 2026. Without the certificate, PwD seat choices do not appear.

NEET PG 2026 PwD assessment at a glance

The notice is "Notice for PwD assessment for PG Round 1 2026", reference U-12021/09/2026-MEC, Notice No. 1, dated 28 September 2026. Read the MCC notice on PwD assessment for PG Round 1 2026 in full.

NEET PG 2026 PwD assessment dates

The notice says it plainly: "the PwD portal for Round-1 of PG Counselling 2026 will become active on 1st Oct., 2026", that the primary board "will remain open from 1st Oct., 2026 upto 05:00 P.M of 9th Oct., 2026", and that the appellate board will assess candidates "from 10:00 A.M of 5th Oct., 2026 upto 05:00 P.M of 12th Oct., 2026".

Notice the overlap. The appellate window opens four days before the primary one closes, and shuts only three days after it. A candidate declared ineligible on 9 October has very little room. If you are going to the primary board at all, go early in the window, not on the last day.

What changed in September 2026

NMC issued new rules on 16 September 2026, and they change how this assessment works rather than just when it happens. The document is "Guidelines on Assessment of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) for Admission to the Post Graduate Medical Course, 2026", number E-8365532/2026-PGMEB, signed by the Secretary, National Medical Commission. Read the NMC PwBD guidelines for postgraduate medical courses, 2026.

Three changes matter to a candidate sitting an assessment this week.

The certificate has been renamed, and the new name tells you what it does

It is no longer a Disability Certificate. Clause 2.5 explains why: the certificate "shall be known as the 'Eligibility Certificate', since it is intended to certify the candidate's eligibility or otherwise for admission to Post Graduate Medical Courses based on functional assessment, rather than merely certifying the existence or extent of disability."

So the board is not measuring your disability. It is deciding whether you can do the job the course trains you for.

Percentage alone no longer decides it

This is the single most important line in the new guidelines. Clause 8.9 reads: "The Functional capability with reasonable accommodation and patient safety shall be given paramount weight and Disability percentage alone shall not confer eligibility."

Clause 8.3 adds that eligibility "shall not be based solely upon the category or percentage of disability recorded in the UDID Card", and clause 10.6(b) requires that every assessment "shall be individualized, objective and evidence-based and for the course to be pursued."

That cuts both ways. A high percentage does not disqualify you from a branch you can actually practise. A benchmark percentage does not entitle you to a branch you cannot.

Eligibility is decided speciality group by speciality group

You are not declared eligible for postgraduate medicine as a whole. The guidelines carry discipline-specific tables, and the same disability can produce different answers in different groups.

Group A covers "Specialities requiring surgical skills and manipulations", which the guidelines list as Anaesthesiology, General Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Otorhinolaryngology, Traumatology and Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Sports Medicine. Group D covers the para-clinical branches: Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology, and Forensic Medicine and Toxicology.

Upper limb disability is marked "Generally, Not suitable" against the surgical group. The same disability is marked "Yes" against the para-clinical branches. Candidates with multiple disabilities or blood disorders are assessed case by case under clause 8.8.

Those tables are what the board will have in front of it. Read the group your intended branch sits in before you go.

Who is eligible for the PwD quota in NEET PG 2026?

Three conditions, all of which must hold.

1. A benchmark disability of at least 40 per cent. Clause 8.1 requires "a benchmark disability of not less than forty per cent (40%), in accordance with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016". Clause 7.1 repeats the 40 per cent threshold for availing reservation.

2. A valid UDID card. Clause 8.2 requires a Unique Disability Identity card issued through the UDID portal by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. It "shall serve as the primary documentary evidence of the existence, nature and extent of the specified disability".

3. A functional assessment by the designated board. Clause 8.13 is clear that final eligibility "shall be ascertained only after physical verification and functional assessment by the Designated Medical Board at the time of counseling/admission".

The disabilities covered are those in the Schedule to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. The guidelines' own tables cover upper limb and lower limb disability, acid attack survivors, leprosy cured persons, cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy, visual impairment, hearing impairment, speech disability, mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, specific learning disability, intellectual disability, blood disorders, chronic neurological conditions and multiple disabilities.

Who is not covered

A disability below 40 per cent does not qualify for the reservation, however genuine it is. The 40 per cent benchmark is statutory, not discretionary.

One protection is worth knowing, because candidates are sometimes turned away wrongly. Clause 9.7 states: "A candidate shall not be denied consideration under the PwBD category solely on account of a procedural defect or discrepancy in the UDID Card, provided that such defect which can be rectified and the specified disability is otherwise established in accordance with law."

So a clerical problem on the card is not, by itself, a ground for refusal.

What to carry to the assessment

The 2026 PG notice itself lists no documents, so work from what MCC asked for in the previous PG cycle and what the 2026 guidelines require. Take all of it.

• Your NEET PG 2026 result card, showing you are eligible for a PG course.

• Your valid UDID card, issued by the designated authority under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

• The self-certification form, in the format MCC provides.

• The affidavit for your disability category, in the NMC format. Clause 9.6 requires a self-certified affidavit declaring your functional abilities, verified by the board during the assessment.

• Your diagnostic records. Clause 8.4 requires "a duly established diagnosis (DSM-5/ICD-11) in accordance with the applicable recognised diagnostic and assessment framework".

One practical warning carried over from MCC's earlier PG notice: check that the centre you are going to actually assesses your category of disability. Some centres handle locomotor disability only, others speech and hearing only. MCC's own wording was that candidates should check "whether the designated disability center they are visiting for examination of their disability has that particular facility or not so that undue inconvenience can be avoided".

On a false document the rule is severe. MCC states that where a UDID card or affidavit "is found to be 'FAKE'; the seat of the candidate will be 'CANCELLED'; and legal action will be taken against the candidate".

How the appeal works

A candidate declared ineligible by the primary board can appeal. The route, as MCC publishes it, is to email the appeal, with your choice of appellate board, to the two addresses given on the portal, before your counselling round begins.

Five appellate boards are currently notified: VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital New Delhi, Grant Government Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals Mumbai, Banaras Hindu University Banaras, Madras Medical College Chennai, and the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research Kolkata. They were constituted following directions of the Supreme Court of India. The MCC notice on NMC addendum and appellate boards dated 7 August 2026 names them along with the nodal officer at each.

The appellate decision ends the matter. MCC's standard operating procedure states: "The decision of the Appellate Disability Assessment Board will stand final." The NMC guidelines put it with one qualifier, that the board's decision is final for counselling and admission "subject to any order or direction of a court of competent jurisdiction".

What if you miss the window?

The rule that bites is not a penalty clause. It is the gate on choice filling. MCC's wording is that only candidates who have obtained the certificate from a designated MCC centre "will be shown choices of PwD seats for All India Quota".

So a candidate who misses the assessment does not lose their NEET PG rank or their counselling. They lose the PwD seat choices from their list, and compete on the open merit list instead.

The certificate is valid for the academic session, not for one round. MCC's wording across cycles is that it "will be valid for this academic session only". In practice MCC opens a fresh portal and a fresh window for each round, so watch for the Round 2 notice when it appears rather than assuming Round 1 carries over.

Does this apply to DNB seats too?

Yes. The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences adopted the same guidelines on 29 September 2026, stating that "NBEMS has adopted the aforesaid guidelines" and that "for the 2026 academic session, the NBEMS courses/specialties have also been mapped in accordance with the PwBD guidelines notified by the NMC on 16.09.2026". The NBEMS website carries the notice.

So a DNB aspirant is assessed against the same functional framework as an MD or MS aspirant, with their speciality mapped into the same groups.

Where this sits in your counselling

The assessment is a gate before choice filling, not a separate process. Our NEET PG counselling guide covers the rounds themselves, and the NEET PG counselling web story is the quick visual version. For the undergraduate equivalent of these rules, see our piece on MBBS with a disability under the NMC rules.

If you are weighing which branch to put first, remember that eligibility is decided by speciality group. Our guides to choosing a course after MBBS and to the PG seat position in India are worth reading alongside the group tables.

Sources

• MCC, Notice for PwD assessment for PG Round 1 2026, dated 28 September 2026

• NMC, Guidelines on Assessment of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities for admission to the Post Graduate Medical Course, 2026

• MCC, Notice regarding NMC Addendum and Appellate Boards (PwBD), dated 7 August 2026

• MCC, PG Medical Counselling notices