Over 450 MBBS Seats Vacant in Deemed Universities After Three Rounds of Counselling

Chennai: In the wake of three rounds of counselling organized by the Medical Counseling Committee (MCC) under the Directorate General of Health Services in New Delhi, more than 450 MBBS seats across 10 deemed universities, including 5 in Tamil Nadu and 4 in Puducherry, remain vacant.

The MCC has emphasized that the continuation of these vacancies depends on whether aspirants decide to opt for them during the stray round, which serves as the final phase of counselling.

The Medical Counseling Committee has organized three rounds of counselling, encompassing all seats in 51 deemed universities across India. Presently, 7922 out of the total 8378 MBBS seats have been allocated.

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Following three rounds of counselling, a significant number of medical college seats remained unfilled. Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute in Chennai had a staggering 198 out of 250 seats vacant, while Bhaarath Medical College had 58 out of 150 seats unoccupied. Additionally, Sree Balaji Medical College and Sri Lakshmi Narayana Medical College reported 47 and 45 vacant seats, respectively.

According to TOI report, nine out of the ten universities with vacant seats were located in Tamil Nadu or Puducherry, with the remaining exception at Gitam Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Vizag, which had 31 vacant seats out of 150. Manickavel Arumugam emphasized that seats in newer colleges with higher fees are expected to remain unoccupied. In contrast, seats in well-established colleges with favourable NIRF rankings and newer colleges offering annual fees below 20 lakh have been in greater demand.

According to MCC officials, in cases where students who have been allocated these seats choose not to enroll in the college, these seats will be deemed vacant and included in the seat matrix for the stray vacancy round. He mentioned that the stray round serves as the final phase of counselling conducted by the agency, and any seats that remain unoccupied following this round will be officially declared vacant. In a departure from past practices, he emphasized that there would be no provision to return these vacant seats to the colleges for on-campus admissions.

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