Common Counselling Crisis : 1200 MBBS Seats may go empty this year, says report

New Delhi: 50% MBBS seats in deemed universities and private medical colleges continue to remain vacant this year, despite the fact that the authorities have followed the Supreme Court directive of conducting centralized counselling to admit students to both MBBS and dental courses. The Dental scenario is equally bad with less than 85% of seats having been filled, reveals TOI. The percentage drop in admission was noticed after the 3^rd round of counselling that came to an end on Thursday.

With the admission process coming to an end on August 31, the final round to fill the vacant seats is scheduled for August 28. The government colleges will have the opportunity to fill more seats as the vacant ones will have been transferred to the states.

According to a senior Health Ministry Official, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) responsible for counselling is looking out for a legal option to sort the crisis of these unfilled seats in private colleges,

"The counselling has been undertaken as per the apex court's order and guidelines, and no changes are possible to tackle the issue of unfilled seats. We are going to seek legal opinion and also approach the court again. Otherwise, there is a possibility of up to 12,000 seats remaining unfilled this year", said a senior DHS official to TOI.

For every 10 vacant seats, a list of 100 candidates will be released by the DGHS which is 10 times higher. Meanwhile, the first three rounds for admissions conducted have given nothing to deemed and private universities. Hence, it is expected that less than 10 per cent of vacant seats will be filled; even if the DGHS tried to resolve the crisis. "Till last year, deemed universities had the option of choosing their students," said the Vice-Chancellor of a deemed university in Hyderabad .