Tamil Nadu likely to lose over 800 MBBS seats this year

Tamil Nadu is likely to lose over 800 MBBS seats this academic year as self-financed colleges are facing the threat of denial from MCI . The council has noted deficiencies in infrastructure and shortage of faculty at these colleges. 400 seats are offered by these colleges, which now are not going to be a part of the single-window counseling process to start on June 20. With this recent update, only 20 GMCs, 6 self-financing, and 10 universities are deemed to offer MBBS seats in the state this year.

"Other than government medical colleges, six self-financing institutes will be part of the counselling. Instead of an expected 800-odd seats from the private sector, we have only 470," said selection committee secretary Dr G Selvarajan to TOI.

There are 6 self-financing colleges which are waiting for an MCI approval now; Christian Medical College is also not going to be a part of the single-window counseling. There is a pending case of the college in the Madras High Court on seat sharing.

Self-financed private medical colleges have an affiliation to Dr MGR Medical University. They jointly offer up to 60% of MBBS seats under single-window counseling. The selection is done by Directorate of Medical Education on merit and reservation basis.

MCI sources have implied they have given some colleges in the state time to rectify the noted deficiencies and submit a report later. If the requirements are met, students will be allowed to seek admissions in these colleges.

However, medical aspirants seeking admission in state medical colleges are in for a very competitive situation at present. Already, the cut-offs of class 12 are very high. Bio full marks are 775 this year, up from 387 in 2015. Half of Bio subject score is to be added to quarter of total scores in physics and chemistry for admitting students.

"We already have heavy crowding at the top with the number of centums in biology and chemistry going up. If the number of seats is cut, it will make competition tougher," said Erode-based educational consultant Moorthy Selvakumaran to TOI. Academicians expect the cut-off to be pushed up by 0.25 points compared to last year.