Over 17 Lakh Students Appeared In NEET UG For 96,077 Medical Seats Last Year: Centre Tells Lok Sabha

The Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare shared the last three years of data on the number of medical seats available for the students who are appearing for the NEET UG examination.

NEET exam

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NEET UG Exam: The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduate (NEET-UG) had more than 18 lakh registered students, out of which 17.64 lakh took the exam last year, Minister of State for health and family welfare, Bharati Pravin Pavar, said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

The minister presented information on the number of medical seats available in the past three years, stating that there were 83,275 vacant seats in 2020, 92,065 in 2021, and 96,077 n 2022.

During a parliamentary session, Mukul Balkrishna Wasnik asked the minister about the number of students who appeared for NEET UG and the number of undergraduate seats in the past three years. The MP also enquired whether the admission process's complexity resulted in numerous legal cases and the emergence of a "micro-industry of medical education counsellors."

The number of students who appeared in NEET UG in the last three years is mentioned in the table given below:

Year	Number of Students Registered	Number of Students Appeared
2022	18,72,343	17,64,571
2021	16,14,777	15,44,273
2020	15,97,435	13,66,945

The available number of undergraduate seats for medical education in the past three years is as follows:

Year	Availability of Medical Seats (UG)
2022	96,077
2021	92,065
2020	83,275

Taking on the admission process, Pavar said that the regulations for graduate and postgraduate medical education dictate the use of NEET scores for conducting common counselling. Additionally, she noted that the MCC of the Directorate General of Health Services oversees the common counselling for AIQ seats, central institutions, and deemed universities at the national level. 

Whereas the common counselling for all the seats for Super speciality programmes is also held by the Medical Counselling Committee.

On the other hand, Pavar also stated that for admission to state quota seats and private medical colleges affiliated with state universities, including those managed by religious and linguistic minorities, the respective state government or its designated authority is responsible for conducting the common counselling.

“The medical seats are allotted to candidates on the basis of merit and as per the choices exercised by the candidate through online counselling software. The whole allotment process is online,” Pavar further added.