The State government is set to review the existing 7.5% horizontal reservation for government school students in medical admissions. A commission headed by a retired judge will assess the reservation, including whether it should be increased or extended to allied health courses beyond MBBS/BDS.

At the launch of a National Deworming Day camp on Monday, Health Minister K.G. Arunraj was asked whether the existing 7.5% quota would be increased to 10% as per the recommendation of a Commission headed by Justice P. Kalaiyarasan, which was formed in 2020 by the then AIADMK government. Dr. Arunraj said it would be reviewed, and another commission was being constituted.

The Kalaiyarasan Commission was constituted to analyse the reasons for lower numbers of government school students getting admission to MBBS, and suggest remedial measures.

The new Commission will assess the extent to which the implementation of the reservation has benefited students, and determine how many more years the government should continue to implement it. The commission will also examine whether the 7.5% reservation should be extended to other allied health courses beyond MBBS/BDS, and whether the existing quota should be increased, the Minister said.

Merit list

Releasing the merit list for admission to MBBS/BDS for the academic year 2026-2027, the Minister said that counselling — offline for special category candidates and online for the general category — will begin on August 13.

The Tamil Nadu Selection Committee had received 41,726 applications for MBBS/BDS government quota seats, of which 35,926 were accepted. Under the 7.5% horizontal reservation for government school students, 4,860 applications were received, of which 3,625 were accepted. For management quota seats, a total of 30,907 applications were received, of which 26,956 were accepted.

A total of 468 applications were received for the sportspersons category, 524 in the children of ex-servicemen category, and 212 in the persons with benchmark disabilities category.

Dr. Arunraj said 9,999 MBBS seats would be filled through counselling this year.

While the State lost 800 MBBS seats after three private medical colleges obtained deemed university status, Tamil Nadu got an additional 850 MBBS seats this year - 150 in three government colleges and 700 in private colleges, he said.

He added that there were 2,000 BDS seats - 250 in government and remaining in private colleges.

A total of 537 MBBS seats and 104 BDS seats are available under the 7.5% reservation for government school students. Of the 537 MBBS seats, 335 are in government medical colleges and 202 in self-financing medical colleges. Of the 104 dental seats, 16 are in government and 88 in private dental colleges.

Published - August 10, 2026 03:20 pm IST