1,400 medical seats still vacant, panel to hold special round of counselling

Registration for the round is likely to open by November 17, with the result likely by November 24.

The NMC is looking at reasons why seats continue to remain vacant.

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The Medical Counselling Committee will conduct a special counselling round to allot more than 1,400 seats that were left over after previous rounds, it is learnt. The seats remained vacant despite the government doing away with a cut-off.

Registration for the round is likely to open by November 17, with the result likely by November 24.

A similar special round of counselling was conducted for remaining UG seats as well.

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“When we have allowed a special round of counselling for MBBS seats, we have to do the same for post-graduation as well. Every seat that has been created is a resource and we have to try to ensure that it gets utilised,” said a senior official aware of the matter.

Also Read | NMC suspends decision on MBBS seat cap amidst strong opposition from states

An association of medical colleges from Tamil Nadu has also filed a plea seeking extension of the counselling process to ensure the seats get utilised.

Usually, there are three rounds of counselling where seats are allotted based on the centralised merit list. There’s also a last stray vacancy round where seats are allotted by individual colleges.

All the rounds of counselling in 2023, including the forthcoming special round, will be based on the centralised merit list. This special fifth round of counselling comes even as the government did away with the cut-off third round of counselling onwards with more than 13,000 seats remaining vacant. Usually, the eligibility for PG seats is 50 percentile, which is reduced during the later rounds of counselling, but this is the first time it has been dropped to zero.

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An analysis of seat allotment after the third round shows that doing away with the cut off resulted in seats being allotted to candidates who have scored 11 out of 800 in the general category and 5 out of 800 in the OBC category. It also resulted in general category candidates scoring less than SC/ST candidates also being allotted seats.

The NMC is looking at reasons why seats continue to remain vacant.

Anonna Dutt

Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More

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