Over 60 per cent post-graduation seats in private medical colleges are likely to go vacant as the tussle between the colleges and the Fee Regulation Authority (FRA) continues even as the first round of admissions ended on Thursday.

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With 12 of the 17 private medical colleges in Maharashtra refusing to admit students, 250 seats were lying vacant at the end of the first admission round. “Colleges have decided to stick to their demands. These seats will thus go vacant. The state government cannot do much about it as it is a matter between the FRA and the colleges. We had proposed that the colleges should at least conduct admissions for the merit and NRI quota seats if they have issues with the fees of the management seat. They did not agree to this,” said Pravin Shingare, Director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER).

The private medical colleges that had been charging students three times the regular fees for the management quota and five times the regular fees for the NRI quota, had requested the FRA to allow them to charge five times the regular fees for the management quota as well. The Association of Management of Unaided Private Medical and Dental Colleges (AMUPMDC) had decided to stall the admission process until their demand is met. “It is a question of survival as we do not have any income from grants or government subsidies and can only meet our costs through the fees,” said Kamalkishore Kadam, president, AMUPMDC.

Students said that it was unfortunate that they had to suffer for no fault of theirs. “Colleges should realise that their decision would take away opportunities from so many deserving candidates,” said a student. The students who have missed out on admissions said that they would appeal to the government to intervene in the issue to ensure that they don’t lose out on the opportunity.

The protesting colleges have however admitted students for dental seats. Shingare added, “While the colleges have not conducted admissions for PG medicine those for dental courses have been conducted successfully. The figures of total students admitted in the first round should be out by Friday.”

By Ankita Bhatkhande, DNA India