Will ensure 1,739 MBBS seats in self-financing colleges: Minister

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu health department will ensure it gets at least 1,739 MBBS seats and 1,410 BDS seats in self-financing colleges under the government quota for the academic year, health minister Ma Subramanian said here on Friday.
In addition, 450 seats in three new colleges -- two self-financing medical colleges and one private university - and 50 in ESIC Medical College in KK Nagar will be added to the seat matrix. There will be no additional MBBS seats in the government sector either through additional seats in existing colleges or through new colleges in 2023.
The minister met administrators of 19 self-financing medical colleges and 20 self-financing dental colleges to discuss seat sharing. As per the informal agreement between the state and self-financing medical colleges, minority institutions share 50% of their seats for admission through government quota and non-minority institutions share 65% of their seats. There are seven minority institutions in the state.
While 15% of the seats are reserved for non-resident Indians, the remaining are management seats. "The government is keen on getting more government quota seats because fees paid here are less compared to the management and NRI quota. Fee for students from government schools allotted under the 7.5% quota is paid by the government," officials said.
Students admitted to government quota seats based on merit in NEET and 60% rule of reservation pay anywhere between '4.35 lakh and '4.50 lakh a year towards tuition fees against '13.5 lakh for those allotted seats under the management quota and '24.5 lakh for NRI students.
"We have asked the colleges to share seats as per the agreement and they have agreed," he told reporters. In turn, the colleges have asked the government to ensure the admission process is not delayed.
The state has also asked the 18 self-financing medical and 16 self-financing dental colleges to surrender 407 postgraduate medical and 139 postgraduate dental seats for admission through the government quota.