175 more PG medical seats in colleges in state this year

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has approved new seats in medical institutes across the country, including 175 new seats in Maharashtra-based institutes for postgraduate

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has approved new seats in medical institutes across the country, including 175 new seats in Maharashtra-based institutes for postgraduate (PG) courses. These seats will be included in the admissions process for the academic year 2020-21.However, experts said the distribution of the seats gives little advantage to students.

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All new seats in clinical courses, which see greater demand, have been allotted to private medical institutes whereas government-run institutes have seats for non-clinical courses (microbiology, physiology, social and preventive medicine), which attract fewer applicants. “Government colleges have been given seats in courses which have been going vacant. Medical colleges like HBT Medical College (Cooper Hospital) have been given only 13 seats, mostly in non-clinical courses. Why such unfair distribution of seats?” asked Muzaffar Khan, a Thane-based medical education counsellor.

Introduction of new reservation quotas, including the socially and economically backward classes (SEBC) quota, had left students in the non-reserved category with less than 10% of the total intake capacity. Consequently, parents and students were hoping the MCI would approve new seats for PG courses but the distribution of the new seats has had a mixed response, despite increasing the intake capacity.

“Increasing number of seats in private medical colleges will not help because their fee is not affordable by many. Non-clinical course seats have been going vacant even at top government-run medical institutes so adding more seats in such courses is a lost cause,” said Sudha Shenoy, activist and parent of a medical student.