NEET-PG 2024 Counselling 820 More Seats Added To The All-India Counseling Process

India witnessed an increase of 820 postgraduate medical seats in the central counseling process this year. The rise is primarily seen in deemed universities and DNB seats. However, concerns arose as some government colleges were absent from the all-India quota seat matrix, causing uncertainty among students despite the overall increase.

Mumbai: The total number of postgraduate medical seats increased by 820 this year in the central counseling process, which includes the all-India quota seats, deemed and central universities, DNB (Diplomate of National Board), and diploma ones.

The seat matrix of the NEET-PG counseling process was released by the central Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) after a day's delay on Saturday. While students claimed that some of the govt colleges were missing from the all-India quota seat matrix, these are likely to be added soon.

The maximum increase in PG medical seats is seen in deemed universities, followed by DNB seats in the country. In DNB alone, where the total seats increased by 494, 103 were added in general medicine, a popular branch among students, followed by orthopedics with 65 seats and general surgery with 48. While the maximum number of seats in DNB is available in general medicine (922), it is followed by anesthesia with 620 seats and general surgery with 500. On the contrary, more seats are added to the pediatrics branch for the two-year diploma course, followed by anesthesia and ophthalmology.

PG medical admissions commenced over two months after the NEET-PG results were out. While the results were out on August 23, and the registrations started soon after, the choice-filling process started only now. Sudha Shenoy, a parent representative, said there is always an increase in the intake capacity. Still, students are determining the entire picture as 335 seats are missing from the all-India quota compared to last year.

"Even if there's an increase this year, it should have been clear by now as there was already a long delay. For Mumbai students, a civic college in Nerul recently got permission to offer PG courses that were missing from the seat matrix released by the MCC," she said.

Vacant seats in the all-India NEET-PG admission rounds