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Chennai: More than a dozen self-financing medical colleges in TN are expecting to add between 50 and 150 MBBS seats in the second round of counselling for undergraduate medical education.
Additionally, four deemed universities may add 100 seats each, taking the tally of additional undergraduate medical seats in the state to 1,750.
While the increase may excite students and parents, academicians are frustrated as the admission process for the current academic year has been put on hold indefinitely.
National Medical Commission, the apex body that regulates medical education in the country, is reviewing applications for colleges across the country and has now asked the medical counselling committee under directorate general of health sciences to put admissions on hold.
On Aug 23, the committee put out a notice that said, “As per information received from National Medical Commission, the process of increasing MBBS seats for the academic session 2025 is in progress. In order to include newly authorised MBBS seats in Round-2 of UG counselling 2025, the competent authority has decided to start Round-2 of UG counselling 2025 from Aug 29, 2025, tentatively. However, the revised schedule for Round-2 will be published shortly.”
There were no further updates. Authorities in state selection committee said they will not be able to release the revised schedule without information from Centre committee. Central committee allots students to 15% of seats in govt colleges and all seats in central institutions and deemed universities. “State counselling always follows the counselling by Central committee,” said a senior official of the selection committee.
Central committee has told state that opening dates for freshmen, scheduled for Sept 5, will be postponed. Officials say first day of college is likely to be after Sept 20, and it will take at least another month for all four rounds of counselling to end. “Courses are crammed as study leaves and holidays are cut short to complete portions within the scheduled time when admissions are delayed,” said a senior professor at a govt medical college.
The course is already strenuous with a vast syllabus, and cramming it adds pressure on freshmen, he said. “We can’t create new timelines for the course because final year exam time is fixed. If final year exams are delayed, students face difficulty in getting PG admissions,” he said.
