New Delhi, Nov. 12 -- The soaring cost of private medical education has always been a paramount topic of discussion. While lakhs of aspirants compete for limited vacancies in affordable government colleges, rising demand at private universities-whose exorbitant tuition fees leave seats vacant -continues to grow.

A report by The Times of India (TOI) underlined that 411 Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) seats in India remain vacant even after the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) conducted an additional round for undergraduate medical admissions.

The MCC, which conducts counselling for medical college admissions, held the special stray vacancy round, which included 948 vacant MBBS seats. Of these, 537 seats were allott...