2,849 MBBS seats remained vacant in govt colleges across India in 2024-25

New Delhi: On average, over 2,000 MBBS seats remain vacant in government medical colleges in the country every year, according to a report submitted by the National Medical Council (NMC) to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.

As per the report, a total of 2,849 MBBS seats were unfilled in government medical colleges other than AIIMS and JIPMER in the last academic year (2024-25). Experts said that the situation was caused mainly by a complicated admission process.

“The NMC issues a directive to complete the admission, including the mop-up counselling, every year by a specific deadline. This compels the authorities carrying out the admission to conclude the process before all the seats are filled,” said Dr R V Ashokan, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Another reason contributing to vacant seats is that students are giving up allotments in medical colleges in rural areas, and new colleges and institutions are lacking basic infrastructural facilities.

The Central government has increased the number of MBBS seats in India by 39% over the last five years in order to prevent the flow of students abroad owing to a lack of vacancies in the country. Following this measure, there were 1,15,900 MBBS seats in the country in 2024-25, compared to 83,275 in 2020-21. In Kerala, the number increased from 4,105 to 4,705.

Vacant seats
The following is a table of the number of vacant MBBS seats in India since the academic year 2021-22:
2021-22: 2,012
2022-23: 4,146
2023-24: 2,959
2024-25: 2,849