Nearly 105 MBBS seats under the management quota in Karnataka are lying vacant for admissions to undergraduate medical seats ending on January 15.

Medical education department officials said no seat goes vacant and one or two may remain vacant due to errors in the admission process. Officials in the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, the umbrella varsity for medical colleges, said there are over 7,500 MBBS seats in the state. This year, the unfilled seats are as high as 30 in a college in Devanahalli, 22 in an Anekal college, and 14 in a Bidarahalli college. A new medical college in Bengaluru has 10 seats vacant.

Colleges blame confusion over admission date: VC

The management seats include other quota seats like NRI which were handed over to the managements after they remained unfilled.

RGUHS vice-chancellor Dr S Sacchidanand said private colleges are blaming the confusion over the last date for admission for the seats getting no students. “The last date was announced as December 31and it was extended to January 15. Many colleges said they were not informed of  this extension. Usually, no MBBS seat goes vacant,” he said.

A principal of a medical college in Bengaluru said the unfilled seats that were to be converted into management seats were returned by Karnataka Examinations Authority on January 13. “There was very little time for us to fill them up as January 14 was a holiday. It’s the first time that seats are going vacant,” he said.

The chairman of another medical college in Bengaluru said: “Since the last date for dental seats was extended to January 31, parents expected the last date for MBBS seats, too, to be extended and unfortunately did not come to take seats.” The college has 14 seats unclaimed.

According to officials at DME, an increase in the number of medical colleges across the country could be a reason why the number of students coming to Karnataka has shown a drop.

“According to the Centre’s plans, every district will have a medical college by 2025. Any 300-bed district hospital with 10 acres of land can be turned into a medical college with little investment from the state. Students will not have to travel to other states. Those colleges that have good infrastructure and provide quality education will get students,” he said.

An expert said after NEET was introduced and admission to NRI seats streamlined, filling up seats had become a problem. “Covid might have played its part. Apart from paying ability, parents may not want children to travel far to study,” he added.

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