As Maharashtra's NEET UG admission process enters its final stages, 300 MBBS seats approved by the National Medical Commission (NMC) remain outside the state seat matrix for the 2026-27 academic year, Mirror Now and Medical Dialogues reported.

According to the NMC's MBBS seat matrix for 2026-27, updated on September 1, Mauli Medical College Hospital and Research Center in Buldhana district is listed with 100 seats and the Ideal Institute of Medical Science in Palghar with 50 seats. Both new colleges are yet to be included in the Centralised Admission Process (CAP) because they await affiliation from the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), Medical Dialogues reported. College officials told Careers360 that MUHS had raised queries related to faculty during inspections and that the institutions were awaiting affiliation.

Pune and Kopargaon additional seats also pending

At two existing colleges, the NMC granted additional seats — 50 more at Smt. Kashibai Navale Medical College in Pune and 100 more at Smt. Sakhubai Narayanrao Katkade Medical College in Kopargaon — taking each college's total intake to 150. Those additional 150 seats are also yet to be included in the state seat matrix, Medical Dialogues reported. Mirror Now reported that MUHS's decision stemmed from shortcomings it identified in campus infrastructure, faculty staffing and patient volume for clinical training, and that officials indicated there was little chance the seats would be reinstated for the current year.

The issue was raised by Khan, president of the Mission Awareness Foundation, in an October 17 email to the State CET Cell and the Maharashtra Medical Education and Drugs Department, seeking clarification on why the two new colleges had not participated in CAP 2026 despite NMC approval, Careers360 reported via Medical Dialogues. In its reply, the CET Cell said: "Only those colleges who have received Government GR and affiliation from the University are considered." It said the colleges will participate when they get the required permissions, but did not clarify whether they could join the ongoing counselling or only the next academic year.

The gap between the national regulator and the university has drawn criticism from stakeholders. Parent representative Sudha Shenoy questioned the discrepancy between MUHS and the NMC, 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. The state-level stray vacancy round has now begun, Medical Dialogues noted, raising questions over whether any of the 300 seats can still enter this year's process.

If the two new colleges are included, they would add 150 MBBS seats to Maharashtra's admission pool, and the additional seats at the two existing colleges would add another 150 — a potential increase of 300 seats for 2026-27, Medical Dialogues reported.