Students and parents have found themselves stumped as 10 per cent of private medical college seats in Maharashtra are now to be reserved for candidates who belong to the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) category.

Worried that this may mean even fewer seats for general category students, parents and students are concerned about the medical counselling process for the academic year 2025–2026.

“This is a grave injustice towards those students who fall under the general category, since it’s their seats that are at stake. The right way to do it would have been to increase the total number of seats at medical colleges to ensure that no child is losing out on an opportunity. We hope to take our concerns to X (formerly Twitter) to give this issue the spotlight it needs,” said Jasmine Gogri, a medical counsellor who is guiding over 100 students through admissions.