In a surprising trend, 1,169 medical and dental seats across Gujarat remained vacant after the first round of counselling for MBBS and BDS courses concluded on Saturday.
Of these, 588 seats were for MBBS and 581 for BDS. Notably, 61 MBBS seats at the prestigious BJ Medical College (BJMC) in Ahmedabad went unfilled.
Across the state, 437 government quota seats, 120 management quota seats, and 31 NRI quota seats for MBBS remained vacant. For BDS, the tally included 521 government quota, 51 management quota, and one NRI quota seat.
A senior professor at BJMC attributed the vacancies partly to students preferring All India Quota admissions closer to home. But he also cited an unusual factor: “It may sound hard to believe, but the recent air crash incident has deterred some students and parents from choosing BJMC.”
The second round of counselling will begin on August 29.