NMC announces special stray vacancy round for MBBS, BDS, BSc nursing

The National Medical Council (NMC) has announced a special stray vacancy round for MBBS, BDS, and BSc Nursing courses under All-India Quota and state quotas. Eligible candidates must pay a refundable security deposit of ₹50,000 and the round will be conducted online. The decision comes after directives from the Supreme Court.

Mumbai: The National Medical Council (NMC) has declared a special stray vacancy round for admission to the MBBS, BDS and BSc Nursing courses under the All-India Quota (AIQ) and state quotas. This decision comes after directives from the Supreme Court.

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The NMC letter states that the special round is open to candidates who have not secured seats through previous admission rounds. Eligible candidates are required to pay a refundable security deposit of ₹50,000. Those who secure a seat but do not accept it will have to forfeit the deposit and will also be disallowed from taking the NEET exam the following year.

The unique stray vacancy round will be conducted entirely online. The AIQ round will commence on Wednesday, while the states are expected to conduct their rounds from November 7 onward. There are 2,182 vacant seats in MBBS and nearly 300 in BDS in AIQ.

Undergraduate medical course admissions were initially required to be finalised by September 30 but many seats remained unfilled. To fill these, the central ministry of health and family welfare approached the SC for an extension of the admission deadline and the authorisation to conduct a special stray vacancy round for vacant MBBS, BDS, and BSc Nursing seats under the AIQ and state quota.

Questions have arisen regarding the timing of the decision, especially in Maharashtra, given the recent controversy surrounding the last stray vacancy round, which was held at the institution level and was not in accordance with NMC guidelines for online seat allocation. A hundred and forty-one students admitted during this round faced the risk of losing their seats, leading some to seek legal action.

Brijesh Sutaria, a parent, has asked for clarity on the fate of these admissions declared invalid by the NMC. Another parent, Sudha Shenoy, said, “The Supreme Court has extended the UG medical admission deadline by 15 days but uncertainty about the admissions to PG courses remains. The mandatory admission deadline for these concluded on October 25, and vacant seats in PG programmes have yet to be addressed.”

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Increased seats

The state CET cell also announced a special stray vacancy round for the ayurvedic (BAMS) and physiotherapy (BPTH) courses. The government has approved 160 more seats for BAMS and 150 for BPTH. Fifty BPTH seats are in Sangli, and 100 seats in Chandrapur College. BAMS has 100 approved seats in Ahmednagar and 60 seats in Yavatmal-based private colleges.