With a total of approximately 87,000 medical seats in India for lakhs of NEET-qualified students, a major percentage of the students, unfortunately, have to move out of their way due to the lack of details about the opportunities available for them in the country. Many times, there is also an issue of proper guidance and counselling among the students as they assume NEET and MBBS to be their only targets. 

Answering some of the major questions and concerns of the students, here is a complete and comprehensive guide for the students aspiring to join the medical discipline.

Q1. Does admission in all the medical courses in India require NEET Qualification?

Though under the NMC/MCI guidelines, most undergraduate course in India requires the student to qualify for the NEET exam for admissions, however, there are some courses in which the admissions are facilitated based on academic merits instead. 

Q2. What is the career plan with MBBS?

The MBBS course in India generally is of 5.5 years (including 1 year of compulsory rotatory internship). After which the students can also pursue Postgraduate courses such as M.D. (Doctor of Medicine); M.S. (Master of Surgery); DNB (Diplomate of National Board). The duration of all these courses is generally 3 years.

If interested, the student can also pursue their super specialisations and pursue specialisations and super specialisations such as D.M. (Doctorate in Medicine), M.Ch. (Master of Chirurgical), DNB, etc. the duration of which remains to be 3 years.

Admitting to some of these courses often requires the student to qualify the exams such as NEET-PG, DNB and so on.

Q3. What are fields to pursue specialisation?

Depending upon their interests and choice, there are several options for major and super specializations the students can pursue after the completion of their undergraduate & post-graduate degrees. The table below mentions several fields of specialization that medical students can avail themselves of in India and abroad.

Q4. What is the total number of colleges & seats in India for MBBS, BDS & Aayush?

The total number of seats in India for medical studies (including fields like MBBS. BDS, BAMS, BHMS, Veterinary, B.S.M.S., Unani) is approximately 1,66,252 distributed over 1671 medical colleges in India.

Q5. Which state/cities in India have the most and least medical seats?

Tamil Nadu has the highest number of MBBS number seats, i.e., 10825 in 69 medical colleges (32 government and 32 private colleges). Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar, Goa, Meghalaya and Sikkim has only 1 government medical college and no private college. Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have the lowest number of medical seats, 50.

Here is a detailed list of all the medical seats distributed in the various states of India.

*List includes state-wise AIIMS too                                *Data Source- MCI(NMC) and other websites

Q6. How many medical entrance examinations?

There were 3 medical entrance examinations for admissions in the medical colleges of India. Each examination categorises a respective medical college under itself namely NEET, AIIMS and JIPMR, however as of 2022, NEET would be the only entrance examination for all the medical colleges in India as well as abroad.

Q7. What is the exam pattern for NEET?

NEET Key Highlights

Q8. What were the cut-off marks for NEET 2021 for qualification?

Q9. What was NEET cut off of the top 10 state medical colleges?

Comparing the cut-offs for NEET 2021 and 2020, here are the top 10 state medical colleges and their closing ranks.

Q10. How many medical seats are there in AIIMS, JIPMER & AFMC?

There are a total of 20 AIIMS across the country which as around 787 seats for UR, 193 seats for SC, 522 seats in ST, 290 seats in OBS and 15 seats in EWS (excluding PwBD seats for each category). Therefore, there is a total of 2037 medical seats in all the AIIMS.

In the two Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research- Puducherry and Karaikal, there is a total of 187 and 62 seats, i.e. 249 seats.

For admission to Armed Force Medical College, after the screening in the NEET exam, the students have to qualify ToELR test, and Psychological Assessment Test (PAT) and qualify for the interview with the board members. The total seats available at the AFMC are 150. (115 boys, 30 girls and 5 sponsored Candidates).

Conclusion

The above distribution of seats is as on the provided data by various sources and can fluctuate as the new institutes and training centres are established. As these figures show the best institutes and the number of available seats, it also highlights the cut-throat competition the medical aspiring students have to face to fulfil their dream. 

The rigorous routines of the admission process can certainly be exhausting, and if the students are working through private medical colleges, they might have to arrange for hefty donations and fees.

Therefore, these thousands of numbers for the lakhs of NEET qualified students often lead many of them to seek their options with MBBS abroad. If you are also one of them or simply wish to know about all your opportunities in India or abroad, dial up our student helpline number 1800-833-3338, visit us in nearby offices or share your query with us.