Chennai, July 16 (IANS) Medical counselling for MBBS and BDS courses in Tamil Nadu for the academic year 2025-2026 will commence on July 30, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian has said.

The state’s selection committee will release the merit list on July 25 at 10 a.m., following the scrutiny of all received applications.

Addressing the media, the Minister has stated that the Health Department has received a total of 72,743 applications for MBBS and BDS admissions this year. The selection committee is currently in the process of verifying these applications, and the entire scrutiny will be completed by July 25.

Based on this, the merit list will be released, paving the way for the commencement of the counselling process as scheduled by the Medical Counselling Committee under the Union Health Ministry. However, during the document verification process, irregularities were detected in several applications.

“Nearly 20 candidates have submitted applications using forged documents,” Subramanian said.

Of these, four students had submitted fake Non-Resident Indian (NRI) certificates, seven had produced forged nativity certificates, and nine candidates had submitted fabricated community and nativity certificates.

The Minister confirmed that legal proceedings would be initiated against these individuals for attempting to gain admission through fraudulent means.

Additionally, a number of students were found to have failed to attach essential documents like birth certificates or community certificates. For such cases, the government has provided a two-day window for the applicants to furnish the missing documents and rectify the discrepancies in their applications.

The Minister also shared a significant update on postgraduate medical education in the state. He said the National Medical Commission (NMC) has granted approval to begin new postgraduate courses at 13 government medical colleges across Tamil Nadu.

These PG courses are expected to commence soon, further enhancing the state’s medical education infrastructure.

Tamil Nadu currently has 5,050 MBBS seats in its government medical colleges. In total, the state offers around 11,700 MBBS seats spread across 36 government medical colleges, 22 private medical colleges, four private universities, and 13 deemed-to-be universities.

With the counselling process set to begin shortly, authorities have assured transparency and strict adherence to regulations to ensure fair and merit-based admissions.

–IANS

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