1,640 MBBS seats still vacant; colleges seek cut in cut-off

CHENNAI: Even after three rounds of MBBS counselling by the Centre's Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), at least 1,641 MBBS seats, including 483 in Tamil Nadu, are lying vacant across the nation.
While nearly half of the vacant are All-India Quota (AIQ) seats, 59 MBBS seats were vacant in state-run colleges in Tamil Nadu, where the annual tuition fee is less than Rs 20,000.In addition, a dozen seats in AIIMS-Madurai are vacant.
While states like Tamil Nadu are pushing the Centre to return seats or extend the deadline for admissions beyond September 30, private educational institutions are lobbying with the Centre to bring down the cut-off marks by up to 30 marks, as they had done for the post-graduate medical programme on Wednesday.
"High-cost medical seats are not the only factor in this," said Nandini Krishnan, a senior counsellor at a coaching institute. A total of 872 All-India Quota (AIQ) seats and 44 seats from central institutions such as AIIMS, JIPMER and Aligarh Muslim University are vacant. In comparison, only two-fifths of the vacant seats (679) are paid seats in deemed universities and an additional 44 seats were reserved for the NRI category are lying unfilled. "Nearly 50% of the vacancies are in government colleges. The problem lies with "free exits" for students who are allotted seats in earlier rounds, and an unsynchronised counselling process," she said.
Puducherry has just completed Round-1 of counselling while other states are gearing up for the last round this week. Many students, who had opted for deemed universities in the union territory through the central counselling, did not join as they were waiting for better or cheaper options in the Puducherry counselling (CENTAC).
Result: When MCC the seat matrix for the stray round -- the last phase of counselling -- Puducherry reported 162 vacant seats, which is next only to Tamil Nadu, which has 483 vacant seats. Maharashtra has 154 vacant seats, while it is 121 in Rajasthan and 118 in Karnataka.
If students don't opt for seats in these colleges or do not join the colleges where they are allotted seats, then these high-demand seats will be declared vacant.
In contrast, all state quota seats in government colleges were filled by the State Selection Committee in three rounds of online counselling. Tamil Nadu will open portals for conducting stray rounds on Saturday to fill seats in government quota, management quota and NRI lapsed seat in self-financing colleges, said selection committee secretary Dr R Muthuselvan.
Parents and students say states must go in for hybrid counselling to avoid blocking of seats in central and state counselling. "These rounds can't be held simultaneously. A student may be allotted seats in state and central counselling. If he joins one, the other will remain vacant," said student counsellor Manickavel Arumugam.
While private medical colleges have urged the Centre to reduce cut-off or return seats for on-campus spot admissions, deemed universities, which account for two-fifths of the vacancies, are offering scholarships. Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, where 205 of the 250 seats are vacant, has announced scholarships from Rs2 lakh for students below 200 NEET marks and up to 4 lakh for students above 300 marks.