Hundreds of seats in MBBS and Postgraduate medical courses have remained vacant after the NEET UG, PG in the past few years. There are no takers for these seats due to exorbitant fees charged by Private Colleges & substantial increase in the number of clinical seats. Para-clinical and Pre-clinical seats are less appealing and do not attract attention of students. Even after multiple rounds of counselling seats are remaining vacant which is a matter of concern.
Bharati Pravin Pawar, Minister of State (MoS), for Health and Family Welfare recently shared the data regarding vacant seats in UG, PG medical programmes in the past three years in the on-going monsoon session of Parliament. In 2022-23, 4,400 PG seats remained vacant, signalling an increase of 17.5% in vacant seats in comparison to 2021-22, when 3,744 seats remained vacant. A total of 860 MBBS seats remained vacant in the past three years. In terms of the increase in the number of seats, according to the health ministry data, there were 83,275 MBBS seats in 2020-21 and the number increased to 107,948 seats in 2023-24.
- Private colleges charging exorbitant fees are the main deterrent. Students’ concerns about recognition by the National Medical Commission (NMC) and uncertainties about job availability after non-clinical courses contribute to the hesitation in opting for these seats.
- The lack of coordination in the counselling process, where central and state committees aren’t aligned, leads to seats going vacant due to students opting for better colleges in state counselling despite initially securing a seat in the central round.
- The dearth of quality faculty in non-clinical courses, due to the high fees charged and low student enrolment, is an added concern for new private medical colleges. Additionally, the preference for colleges in more accessible locations also impacts seat occupancy.
To address this, ensuring a balance between clinical and non-clinical seats, making fees more reasonable, improving job prospects for non-clinical courses, and enhancing coordination in the counselling process could help reduce the number of vacant seats. Moreover, incentivizing faculty recruitment for non-clinical subjects and promoting the importance of these courses might attract more students.
