{NRI Quota} No takers for BDS seats in pvt dental colleges; 60% MBBS seats vacant
Of the 366 MBBS and BDS seats under the quota, 291 (80%) are vacant after the second round of counseling due to high tuition fees.
Even after two rounds of counseling for admissions to undergraduate medical courses by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) all BDS seats under the non-resident Indian (NRI) quota in 14 private dental colleges remained vacant this year. Meanwhile, 60% of NRI quota MBBS seats remained vacant in 10 medical colleges in Punjab.
Of the 366 MBBS and BDS seats under the quota, 291 (80%) are vacant after the second round of counseling due to high tuition fees.
NRI quota seats are the main source of revenue for medical and dental colleges. A full course fee for an NRI quota MBBS seat is US $1.1 lakh ( ₹92 lakh) in all private and government medical colleges of the state. The fee for NRI quota BDS seat is US $44,000 ( ₹37 lakh).
The 11 medical colleges in Punjab offer 185 NRI quota MBBS seats of which 112 are vacant. The number of BDS seats reserved for the NRI candidates in 16 dental colleges including two government institutions in the state is 181. However, only two BDS seats under the NRI quota in the Government Dental College, Patiala have been allotted, while all the seats in private dental colleges are vacant.
“With a high tuition fee structure, the NRI-quota seats will continue to witness low number of students opting for it. Students also have to account for other expenses during the five-year course, making it an expensive proposition. Most of the NRIs who want to send their students to India for medical education are not so rich, so that is the main reason they are opting for other countries,” says former BFUHS vice-chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur.
“An NRI student spends around ₹1 crore to complete the MBBS course, while some other countries including Ukraine offers this course at ₹30 lakh only,” said an official of the department of medical education.
In August, the Punjab government broadened the NRI quota criteria by including distant relatives of NRIs including siblings or cousins who are living in India. However, the Punjab and Haryana high court quashed the Punjab government notification amending conditions to allow the nearest relatives of an NRI to be considered under the quota for admissions to MBBS courses.
After the third round of counselling, the vacant NRI quota seats are transferred to the general quota. The BFUHS started the third round of counselling on Wednesday. The provisional merit list will be displayed on October 11 and the provisional result will be announced on October 18.