PG med admissions on: Seat matrix not out yet; EWS quota cause for concern

Even as admissions to postgraduate medical and dental courses are underway, the students are eagerly waiting for the release of the seat matrix to understand how

Even as admissions to postgraduate medical and dental courses are underway, the students are eagerly waiting for the release of the seat matrix to understand how many seats are up for grabs.

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Even though the newly approved seats brought excitement to the student community, PG medical aspirants are worried that new seats approved in medical institutes providing post-graduate courses will mean the inclusion of the economically weaker section (EWS) quota in admissions this year.

“Last year, we managed to get a stay from the Supreme Court on the implementation of EWS quota in PG medical admissions as there was no increase in seats to accommodate the new quota. The rule states that 10% of EWS quota can only be implemented if the college gets a 25% seat increase,” said a parent of a medical aspirant.

Parents, as well as students, are worried that the introduction of the quota will leave fewer seats for students applying in unreserved categories. “Introduction of both EWS and socially and economically backward class (SEBC) quotas in PG medical admissions will leave less than 3% seats in private medical colleges for open category applicants. How fair is it to reserve 97% seats for quotas and leave only 3% for open category students?” said Muzaffar Khan, a Thane-based medical education counsellor.

Introduction of new reserved categories like 10% EWS and the 13% SEBC quota, especially in professional courses, was heavily debated in 2019. While the SEBC quota was implemented in 2019, EWS was only implemented in undergraduate medical admissions after new seats got approved across medical institutes in the country.

“This year, while we are waiting for a final judgement from the SC on the implementation of SEBC quota (for a petition filed in 2019), many of us are also ready to go back to court if need be, in case EWS quota is implemented in PG admissions,” said a PG medical applicant.

Earlier this year, the Medical Council of India (MCI) approved new seats in medical institutes across the country, including 175 new seats in Maharashtra based PG institutes. These seats will be included in the upcoming admissions process for 2020-21 academic year.

Experts, however, have pointed out that the distribution of these news seats gives very little advantage to students as all seats in clinical courses, which are more in demand, have been allotted to private medical institutes whereas the government-run institutes have got non-clinical seats (microbiology, physiology, social and & preventive medicine) that attract very few takers.