As many as 597 MBBS seats out of a total 1,800 across 12 government, private and minority medical colleges of Punjab remain vacant following the first round of counselling, according to the tentative vacancy position released ahead of the second round of admissions this year.Of the total vacancies, government medical colleges account for 234 seats, while private and minority-run institutions together account for 363. Punjab’s 1,800 MBBS seats are split evenly between the sectors, with five government colleges accounting for 900 seats and seven private institutions making up the rest.Among government institutions, Government Medical College, Patiala, reported the highest vacancies at 61, driven largely by 30 unfilled open-category government-quota seats. GMC Faridkot followed with 59 vacancies, including 38 in the NRI quota alone, while GMC Amritsar reported 29. Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Mohali, and ESIC Medical College, Ludhiana, recorded 14 and seven vacancies respectively.Among private and minority institutions, Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR), Bathinda, topped the list with 112 vacant seats, followed by Sri Guru Ram Das Institute, Amritsar (89), Gian Sagar Medical College, Banur (64), and PIMS, Jalandhar (64). Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, and RIMT Medical College, Mandi Gobindgarh, reported 38 and 30 vacancies respectively, while Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, recorded 30.Category-wise, Open seats accounted for the largest share at 179, followed by NRI quota seats at 167 — reflecting the trend of costlier NRI seats staying unfilled. Scheduled Caste seats had 81 vacancies, Backward Classes 27, and PWD seats 59. EWS seats, applicable at GMC Amritsar, GMC Patiala and GGS Medical College Faridkot, had four vacancies, while around 80 remaining seats were spread across smaller reserved categories.AIMSR’s high vacancy count stems from a fee dispute: government-quota students there must pay the full Rs 64.71 lakh course fee — identical to management quota — instead of the state-notified Rs 25.22 lakh. Of AIMSR’s 150 seats (75 government, 53 management, 22 NRI), the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences said it would charge management-quota fees even to government-quota candidates, citing a Punjab and Haryana High Court interim order of August 4 in a plea by AIMSR challenging the state’s fee-discounted “government quota” allocation in an unaided private college.