NRI PG NEET seats added to ‘other’ category

Bengaluru: The Medical Education Department has converted vacant NRI seats to the ‘others’ category- that falls under management quota- during the third round of PG medical/dental counselling that began on Wednesday. Out of the 372 seats under the NRI quota, only 37 were filled and the department incorporated the unfilled seats into the management quota. This move will also be beneficial to managements since the government increased the fee for NRI seats by 15%.

Merit students claim that the unfilled seats have to be open to them under the government quota because the government already reserves 15% seats for NRIs, though the demand for it is negligible. Merit PG-NEET students have been infuriated by this move of the department.

Director of Medical Education, Dr S. Sachidananda, said that only 5 PG dental and 32 PG medical seats were filled under the NRI category. All the remaining seats in the NRI quota were converted to the ‘other’ category. Principal Secretary of Medical Education, V. Manjula, said that the NRI seats were converted without disturbing the government and private quota seats. The 15% seats reserved for NRIs and 10% reserved for ‘others’ still come up to a total 25%.