Why do over 400 MBBS seats remain vacant despite MCC conducting additional rounds to fill undergraduate medical seats?
The MCC, which conducts counselling for medical college admissions, held the special stray vacancy round, which included 948 vacant MBBS seats. Of these, 537 seats were allotted to candidates, while 411 remained vacant.
According to a recent report by The Times of India, over 400 MBBS seats at Indian medical colleges remain unfilled despite the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) conducting an additional round of admissions. The MCC held a stray vacancy round to address the issue, but only 537 of the 948 previously vacant seats were filled, leaving 411 seats still empty.
This surge in vacant seats marks a significant increase from the previous year, when only 60-70 MBBS seats remained unfilled. The soaring cost of private medical education is cited as a primary reason for the high number of vacant seats. Annual tuition fees at private colleges and deemed universities have skyrocketed from around ₹15 lakh to ₹25 lakh and even up to ₹30 lakh.
This sharp increase in fees has made private medical education unaffordable for many students and their families. In response, some private institutions have slashed fees by up to 50% in the management quota, resulting in around 190 undergraduate management quota seats remaining vacant. Experts suggest that unless medical colleges address their fee structures and improve the quality of education and infrastructure, the additional seats created by the MCC's extra counselling round will remain vacant, as students simply cannot afford the exorbitant tuition fees.
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