More than 100 candidates from the Economically Weaker Sections category walked away with open-category postgraduate medical seats in private colleges in the first round of NEET-PG 2026 counselling. The seats sit under the self-financed quota. In a few colleges the total tuition for the full three-year course climbs as high as ₹2.1 crore.

The seat allotment list shows these candidates under the EWS tag. The seats themselves are marked open and listed as self-financed merit seats. Students simply filled their choice lists the usual way. Seats were given on the basis of NEET-PG rank and the preferences they had entered.

One candidate ranked 79,396 got MS Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Padmashree Dr DY Patil Medical College in Navi Mumbai. The three-year fee there is about ₹2 crore. Another with rank 71,263 was allotted MD Radio-diagnosis at Raja Rajeswari Medical College in Bengaluru. That course costs roughly ₹1.8 crore. Similar allotments turned up at other private colleges in places like Puducherry, Pune and Karad.

To claim EWS status the family’s yearly income from all sources has to stay under ₹8 lakh. Asset limits also apply. Anyone who got these seats can keep them, try for an upgrade in the next rounds, or simply walk away.

For students still in the counselling process the numbers make one thing clear. Private self-financed seats remain expensive even when the rank is good enough. Parents and aspirants will have to match every college preference against the real fee before locking choices. Those already holding these seats now face a hard decision about whether the cost is worth it. Later rounds will show if the pattern continues.