Goa, Sept. 7 -- The National Board of Examinations (NBE) has ruled out lowering the qualifying standard for foreign medical graduates (FMGs), stating that the required standards cannot be diluted. The position has drawn attention to the contrasting treatment of Indian medical graduates appearing for NEET-PG, where qualifying cut-offs have been reduced significantly in recent years.

For FMGs, the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) requires candidates to secure 50% marks to qualify. NEET-PG, the centralised entrance examination taken by Indian medical graduates for postgraduate admissions, uses a percentile-based qualifying system.

The initial NEET-PG cut-off for the general category was set at the 50th percentile, which was equi...