2078 seats medical seats went vacant this year: MCI

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has revealed that about 2,078 seats remained vacant in 83 of the country’s 417 private and government medical colleges this year, as compared to 28 seats that were left vacant last year. This came in a reply to an RTI filed by HT recently. The response by the apex medical body showed that just 56,748 seats of the total 58,826 MBBS seats were filled — leaving as many as 2,078 seats vacant this year.

Of these 83 colleges, 4 did not fill even 15% of the sanctioned seats. Most of these colleges were newly sanctioned by the Supreme Court-appointed oversight committee (OC). For instance, only 20 students took admission at the Ruxmaniben Deepchand Gardi Medical College in Madhya Pradesh while Glocal Medical College in UP snagged a mere 21. Around 130 seats were still vacant in each college adds the daily.

The reasons high-lighted for this are :

• The new medical colleges lack even basic amenities.


• Lack of qualified faculty members.


• Violation of the OC’s order that requires the admitted students’ list to be posted on the respective medical college websites.


• Hike in the fee structure of private medical colleges. While the annual tuition fee previously ranged anywhere between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, colleges increased it by 80% to 100% this year.

“Good colleges are always in demand, but students reject the ones that have failed to live up to their expectations,” said Dr KK Aggarwal, president-elect of the Indian Medical Association.

An RTI recently revealed that 46 of the 51 new colleges submitted admission data to the MCI. While 31 of them were able to fill all their seats, 15 had admitted only 1,448 candidates against 2,200 seats. Fewer admissions are making it difficult for colleges to meet the MCI’s minimum requirement of faculty and facilities.

“Even if a college gets just 20 students, it has to maintain enough faculty members and facilities for the sanctioned strength — which could be 100 or 150 students. And if the colleges are found lacking in faculty members or facilities during inspections, they lose their permit to operate,” said a senior doctor who conducts inspections for the MCI.

Approximately four lakh candidates cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Exam for admission to MBBS and BDS (bachelor of dental surgery) courses this year.

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