Around 2,000 MBBS seats remain vacant, states seek NMC nod for mop up round
New Delhi: Several medical colleges and state governments are reportedly urging the National Medical Commission (NMC) to permit a mop-up round of admissions, which could come as a major relief for medical aspirants, as more than 2,000 MBBS seats are still lying vacant across medical colleges in the country.
The demand for another round of counselling comes after several states reported vacant seats despite conducting multiple rounds of admissions. While most of the unfilled seats are in private medical colleges and deemed universities, some government quota seats have also failed to attract candidates.
Medical Dialogues had reported that altogether 837 MBBS seats remain vacant after the final round of NEET UG 2026 counselling. As per reported sources in the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), 837 MBBS seats remain unfilled across the country, including All India Quota seats. Of these, 824 seats are in deemed universities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry alone. The vacancies also include one seat at AIIMS Madurai and 12 at Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute in Kolar, Karnataka.
Educationists reportedly criticised the lack of a fee cap for deemed universities and pointed out that high-scoring NEET candidates are forced to forgo these seats because they cannot afford the exorbitant fees, defeating the core purpose of a merit-based national entrance exam.
Also read- 837 MBBS seats remain vacant after MCC NEET stray vacancy round counselling 2026
At the state level, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal and Rajasthan have each reported more than 100 vacant MBBS seats this week after multiple rounds of counselling. The state selection committees conduct admissions to government medical colleges, private self-financing colleges and state private universities.
The high cost of medical education in private institutions is being seen as one of the major reasons behind the vacancies. With annual tuition fees running into several lakhs of rupees, many candidates who have qualified NEET-UG are reportedly unable to afford admission.
In Tamil Nadu, 16 MBBS seats in private institutions remained vacant because candidates who were allotted these seats did not join.
Commenting on this, State Selection Committee Secretary Dr V Lokanayaki told TOI, "The counselling is over. We cannot allot them to other students without fresh counselling. The state will have one of the highest numbers of vacancies in India."
Meanwhile, Karnataka has reported 191 vacant MBBS seats after conducting seven rounds of counselling, marking the first such shortfall in five years. All BDS seats in the state have been filled.
To fill up the seats, the Directorate of Medical Education has approached the NMC seeking a reduction in the qualifying cut-off marks for MBBS admissions.
Meanwhile, some private medical colleges in Karnataka are also offering lower fees to attract students, with some institutions quoting around Rs 80 lakh for the entire four-and-a-half-year MBBS course, including hostel charges.
For NEET-UG 2026, the qualifying cut-off was 213 out of 720 marks for General and EWS candidates and 177 marks for OBC, SC and ST candidates.
TOI has reported that a large number of vacancies have also been reported in deemed universities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. As many as 824 MBBS seats across 14 deemed universities remained unallotted in the final round of MCC counselling. The annual tuition fees at these institutions range from Rs 23 lakh to Rs 35 lakh.
At some institutions, the closing NEET rank moved much further down the merit list as colleges struggled to fill their seats. At one university, the closing rank shifted from 7.3 lakh to 10.68 lakh.
While the fee for students allotted seats through govt quota in private colleges touches nearly Rs 10 lakh a year, it can go up to Rs 20 lakh for students in management quota.
