CHENNAI: With nearly 2,000 MBBS seats going abegging across the country, state govts and medical colleges across India are nudging National Medical Commission (NMC) to permit a mop-up round of admissions to fill these seats lying vacant in private colleges. Some govt quota seats have also found no takers yet. Grappling with about 1,000 vacant seats, management of deemed universities are lobbying for a reduction in eligibility cut-offs for MBBS admissions this year.Vacancy lists released last week by the Medical Counselling Committee, under Directorate General of Health Services, showed more than 800 unfilled MBBS seats, including at deemed universities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.This week, several state selection committees, including those in Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal and Rajasthan, reported more than 100 vacancies each after multiple rounds of counselling. These committees handle admissions to govt medical colleges, self-financing private colleges and state private universities.Together, the figures suggest that nearly 2,000 undergraduate medical seats — roughly the capacity of 20 new colleges with 100 seats each — remain vacant.In Tamil Nadu, 16 MBBS seats in private institutions were unfilled because candidates who had been allotted them did not join, said state selection committee secretary Dr V Lokanayaki. “The counselling is over. We cannot allot them to other students without fresh counselling,” she said. The state will have one of the highest number of vacancies in India.In Karnataka, 191 MBBS seats remain vacant after a record seven rounds of counselling, the first such shortfall in five years. All BDS seats were filled. The state’s directorate of medical education has asked National Medical Commission to lower the qualifying marks, while private colleges are offering discounts, with some quoting about Rs80 lakh for the 4½-year course, including hostel fees. The eligibility for 2026 was 213/720 marks for general and EWS candidates and 177 for OBC, SC and ST candidates.Experts, including teachers and student counsellors, say the vacancies highlight the gap between qualifying for a medical seat and being able to afford one. In Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, 824 MBBS seats in 14 deemed universities went unallotted in the final round of central counselling. Annual tuition fees at these institutions range from Rs23 lakh to Rs35 lakh. Some high-fee institutions filled their seats only after admitting candidates much further down the NEET rank list. At one university, the closing rank moved from 7.3 lakh to 10.68 lakh.While the fee for students allotted seats through govt quota in private colleges touches nearly Rs10 lakh a year, it can go up to Rs20 lakh for students in management quota. Medical admissions counsellor Manickavel Arumugam said higher-scoring candidates were passing up seats because they could not afford the fees. “Most students in private college have to depend on parents to repay EMIs after completing the course because the EMI is higher than the salaries they get,” he said.An MBBS graduate is paid Rs60,000 in tier one hospitals, Rs35,000 to Rs40,000 in tier two hospitals and Rs25,000-Rs30,000 in tier three hospitals.DMK Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson called for a cap on tuition fees at private institutions. “Without a cap on tuition, institutions raise fees every year. There are more than 11 lakh qualified candidates and there are less than 2 lakh seats. If the govt is serious about merit, they must not reduce the cut off,” he said.
