After the opposition to introduce more quotas during admissions to professional courses, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has decided to increase postgraduate (PG) seats in medical institutes.
Students are agitating against the central government’s decision to introduce a 10% quota for economically weaker sections (EWS) that will eat into unreserved groups.
Keeping this in mind, the board of governors of MCI has decided to increase PG seats in existing medical institutes under section 10A (increase in admission capacity of a study/ training) of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 for the 2020-21 academic year.
“With reference to the central government’s decision regarding implementation of EWS for admission to PG courses, government medical colleges are requested to send their proposals under the EWS scheme, in consultation with respective Directorates of Medical Education (DMEs), for the academic year 2020-21,” said a notification uploaded by the MCI recently.
The notification also shares a format that colleges need to follow to apply for this.
While MCI is ready to increase the intake capacity of PG medical institutes in the next academic year, it has also asked for a detailed report from the institutes to be eligible for more seats.
“Institutes need to make efforts to put in place additional facilities, including teaching, training, beds and faculty, in order to be eligible for additional seats,” stated the notification. It requests colleges to furnish programme-wise seat increase matrix along with course-wise information to the council.
{{/usCountry}}“Institutes need to make efforts to put in place additional facilities, including teaching, training, beds and faculty, in order to be eligible for additional seats,” stated the notification. It requests colleges to furnish programme-wise seat increase matrix along with course-wise information to the council.
{{/usCountry}}Since the notification is recent, implementation for the current academic year is not possible.
“This year, especially in Maharashtra, we are facing trouble because quotas for both the 10% EWS and 16% socially and economically backward castes (SEBC) have eaten into the open category seats, leaving us with only 4 to 8 per cent seats. Increasing the seat matrix will reduce the competition among open category candidates,” said Anubhav Nair, a PG medical aspirant from the state.
At present, the state common entrance test (CET) cell has released the first seat allotment list for PG admissions and the second list is awaited.