NEET MBBS Admissions 2018: 82 medical colleges disapproved, around 10,000 MBBS seats blocked

NEW DELHI, June 5: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has refused to renew the permission for 82 existing medical colleges to accept MBBS students for the admission year 2018-19. Prominent institutions across numerous states, including St. John’s Medical College in Karnataka and Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences are among those colleges banned from accepting students for the forthcoming year.

Government colleges also barred

Out of the 82 medical colleges denied approval, 12 are Government medical colleges while 70 are private colleges. The Government colleges which have been denied permission are located in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Karnataka and Kerala. Government MBBS seats are unsurprisingly the most in demand through NEET, given their low fees and relatively better infrastructure, and the reduction of these seats is all set to impact the number of 15% All India Quota seats that will be available for admissions. All in all, approximately 10,430 MBBS seats out of the available 65,000 seats in the country are now unavailable for admissions.

New colleges refused approval

In addition to this, the MoHFW has also disapproved the establishment of 68 new medical colleges, including ten in Uttar Pradesh and eight in Karnataka, which would have added another 9000 MBBS seats to the existing tally. Instead, NEET 2018 aspirants seeking admissions this year will not only have no new seats to apply to, but will have to contend with the reduced number of 55,000 MBBS seats. With 7,14,562 candidates clearing the exam this year, around one lakh more than those that cleared NEET 2017, the competition for MBBS seats is set to become more intense.

No increase in seats

Nine medical colleges, comprising four Government and five Private institutions and located across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, have been refused permission to increase their existing capacity. Due to this, 650 MBBS seats which were to be added have also been scrapped.

Reasons cited by the MCI

The MCI had sent its recommendation on May 31, 2018, to the Ministry citing ‘deficiencies’ in the medical colleges, on account of infrastructure, faculty and number of patients.

“They (college administration) wanted to create medical colleges without realising what the colleges require”, a representative of the Medical Council of India (MCI) was quoted saying as per media reports.

According to official sources, the disapproval letters are being sent to the applicant colleges individually by post.

First approval, then disapproval

Interestingly, the axe on these medical colleges has come only days after the MCI had recommended for the establishment of 13 new government and four new private medical colleges across 16 states, thereby increasing the intake by 1350 seats and 600 seats in government and private medical colleges respectively. Apart from this, 3 Government colleges in Gujarat, the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune, Maharashtra and 3 private colleges across Bihar and Andhra Pradesh were also allowed to increase their capacity. A total of 230 Government and 150 private medical seats were therefore added through this way.

The MCI had issued the letter of recommendation for the establishment of the new medical colleges and an increase of seats in the existing ones on May 15, 2018. While that particular news, which assured an increase of 1570 Government MBBS seats and 750 Private MBBS seats through NEET 2018, had come as a cause for celebration for medical aspirants, the MoHFW’s latest decision to not only bar the other 68 new medical colleges from opening but also denying permission to 82 existing medical colleges has come as a huge blow.

Most affected states

The states which are facing the most heat through the MoHFW decision include Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh Gujarat, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

While these states were initially promised new medical colleges, increased seats and renewal of the existing seats, the unexpected red signal indicates a significant loss as can be seen in the below table -

Disapproved medical colleges and seats per state

 

TO CHECK THE FULL LIST OF COLLEGES WHICH HAVE BEEN DISAPPROVED, CLICK HERE

 

The big question

The Union Cabinet, in February 2018, had approved plans to set up 24 new government-funded medical colleges by 2021-22, in addition to 58 medical colleges that were to be established and attached to district hospitals by 2019.

But the sudden rejection of approvals for 68 new colleges, with 31 of them being government institutions, has now once again raised the question of how the government intends to reduce the widening gap in the ratio of doctors to patients in the country.

However, students should keep in mind that the MCI recommends the disapproval of permission for several colleges on an annual basis but most colleges are able to successfully overturn the decision and continue functioning. Given the large number of seats and colleges involved this year, medical aspirants will be hoping this proves to be the case this year as well.