A total of 300 MBBS seats across four private medical colleges in Maharashtra have been excluded from the current academic admission cycle despite having been approved by the National Medical Commission (NMC), Mirror Now reported. The Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) decision comes as the state's medical admission process enters its final stages, and officials have indicated there is little chance the seats will be reinstated for the current year, the report said.

Two colleges face total exclusion. Mauli Medical College, which had NMC approval for 100 seats, and Ideal Institute of Medical Science in Palghar, approved for 50 seats, have been denied university affiliation and cannot take part in the admission process, Mirror Now and Medical Dialogues reported. The other two institutions are Kashibai Navale Medical College in Pune and Sakhubai Narayanrao Katkade Medical College in Kopargaon: the additional seats the NMC approved for them, taking each to 150, have not been included in the state seat matrix, Medical Dialogues and Careers360 reported.

Mirror Now reported that the university's decision stems from shortcomings it identified in campus infrastructure, faculty staffing levels and the volume of patients available for clinical training. The State CET Cell, replying to a query raised by Khan, president of the Mission Awareness Foundation, in an October 17 email, said only colleges that have received a government resolution and university affiliation are considered for the Centralised Admission Process, and that the colleges will participate when they get the required permissions, according to Medical Dialogues and Careers360.

The exclusion has drawn criticism from stakeholders. Parent representative Sudha Shenoy questioned the discrepancy between the university and the national regulator, while student counsellor Sachin Bangad said seats approved by the NMC should ideally be made available to students within the established timeframe, Mirror Now reported.