CHENNAI: Even after the mop-up round counselling to fill the All India Quota (AIQ-states) MBBS and BDS seats by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) of the Union Health Ministry, 111 State government seats remain vacant.
According to data from State Selection Committee, 85 MBBS seats and 26 BDS seats remain vacant after the mop-up round. These 111 seats have been placed by the Union Health Ministry for the stray-vacancy round counselling'. (There are four rounds of counselling - Round 1 and Round II of All India Quota; mop-up round; and stray-vacancy round.)
The seats are vacant even at AIIMS-Madurai, and government medical colleges in Chennai. At AIIMS-Madurai, 15 seats remain vacant, while 5 remain vacant at Government Stanley Medical College in Chennai.
Madras Medical College has two seats, and Government Omandurar Medical College and Government Kilpauk Medical College have one each.
Dr P Vasanthamani, Secretary of State Selection Committee, told The New Indian Express that, usually, after round II counselling, the MCC would surrender the seats to the State. This year, as per the Supreme Court order, it is holding even a stray-vacancy round, Vasanthamani said.
"We have requested the MCC to return the seats to the State if they are not filled even in the stray-vacancy round, scheduled on Monday. We have to wait and see if they would agree; they (the MCC) cannot keep holding rounds to fill up the seats," Vasanthamani said.
It may be noted that the MCC didn't reduce NEET percentile this year to fill these seats. Only those candidates who have already applied can participate in the stray-vacancy round of counselling, according
to officials.
Break from routine
Based on a Supreme Court order, the Union Health Ministry did not surrender vacant MBBS and BDS seats to the State this year. These seats would be filled by the MCC itself. Earlier, the State used to fill the surrendered seats through general category quota.
856 seats this year
Every year, the MCC holds counselling for 15 per cent of All India Quota seats for the States. This year, the AlQ (MBBS) was 856 seats. According to State selection committee data, the MCC surrendered 121 MBBS seats in 2019 and 148 in 2020. It may be noted that MBBS classes for first-year students began on February 14 and the last date to join was extended from February 16 to February 21.