UG medical seats up by 670 across govt, pvt medical institutes: Data

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra state Common Entrance Test (CET) cell released the seat matrix (intake capacity) for undergraduate medical (MBBS) and dental (BDS) for the academic year 2021-22.

A total of 220 new seats have been added in the government medical institutes and 450 seats have been added in private medical institutes this year. The provisional state merit list was announced by the CET cell on Wednesday evening and the seat matrix was released late on Thursday evening.

While sanction to four new government medical colleges (GMCs) was expected for the current academic year, the National Medical Commission (NMC) in November approved two new GMCs, one each in Satara and Alibaug, while two other institutes in Pune and Sindhudurg were still awaited. In case of private medical institutes, along with new sanctions, several existing institutes have sought increase in their intake capacity and were granted the same this year.

Activist Sudha Shenoy shared, “Announcement of the seat matrix has brought respite to anxious students waiting to find out the total seats available in government as well as private institutes. Overall, more seats have been added this year, which should give students more options. Everyone can now start filling the choice preference list as per the information available.”

Meanwhile, a UG medical aspirant Akriti Pandya shared perspective of how open category aspirants feel, “Seats are higher compared to last year and thankfully new government medical institutes have also been approved this year which gives us more options. However, seats for open category students keep diminishing because of new reservation quotas, which is unfair to meritorious students.”

As per the latest notification for admissions to UG health science courses this year, 62% seats will be going to the reserved categories while the remaining 38% goes to those from the open category.