The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has scheduled a special stray vacancy round for NEET-UG 2026 after 944 MBBS seats remained vacant following four rounds of counselling, including the regular stray round that concluded on October 26. Of these, 920 seats are in deemed universities and 24 in government medical colleges. Tamil Nadu accounts for the highest number of vacancies at 686, followed by Puducherry with 186, officials told HT.
In March 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that fees for half the seats in private medical colleges would be at par with government colleges. NMC guidelines issued that year provided for government-college-equivalent fees for 50% of sanctioned seats, with preference to candidates allotted government-quota seats. The NMC separately directed deemed universities to implement the provisions from the 2022-23 academic session.
Andhra Pradesh accounts for the highest number of vacant seats in government medical colleges, with five. States handle the remaining government-college seats and counselling for private colleges affiliated with state universities. The large number of vacancies in deemed universities has renewed concerns over the cost of medical education. The NMC did not respond to HT’s queries.
Besides Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, vacancies in deemed universities are concentrated in Karnataka (25), Maharashtra (10) and Telangana (4), among other states. Under the Directorate General of Health Services, MCC handles 15% All India Quota seats in state government colleges, all deemed-university seats and MBBS seats at central institutions such as AIIMS, JIPMER and BHU. India has 140,664 MBBS seats for 2026-27, including 64,121 in government colleges and 76,543 in private institutions, according to the National Medical Commission’s seat matrix. MCC’s counselling pool comprised 27,292 seats, including 16,975 in deemed universities and 10,317 in other institutions. Annual tuition at several such institutions ranges from ₹ 25 lakh to ₹ 35 lakh. Students pay tuition for 4.5 years of the five-and-a-half-year MBBS programme, which includes a compulsory one-year internship. “In one state, MBBS fees are around ₹ 5 lakh, while in another state like Tamil Nadu, they are around ₹ 20 lakh.
Dr Lakshya Mittal, chairperson of the United Doctors Front, said fee disparities were forcing even high-scoring NEET candidates to forgo seats. Why is there such a huge difference when the education is the same?” he said, calling for fee rationalisation through an effective regulatory mechanism. A senior official said fee fixation was ultimately a state-level matter and the recommendations had not been adopted uniformly. “Among the states, only Telangana is following the recommendations, with 50% of seats being charged at par with government medical colleges in the respective state,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
