Vacant postgraduate medical seats still not given to state

With over 1,600 seats lying vacant for the post-graduate medical and dental courses under the 50% All India quota, at the end of the third round of counselling, the vacant seats still haven’t been sent to the state quota, leaving post-graduate aspirants in the state in the lurch.

After a petition was filed in the Supreme Court on July 3, 2013, to grant permission for a fourth round of counseling to fill up the vacancies under the allI ndia quota, the students who couldn't make it in the first three rounds had pinned their hopes on the transfer of these seats.

"The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) had earlier announced that the list of vacant positions will be declared on July 25, following which I went to the office everyday till July 28, only to be disappointed with no list," said Dr. Jayesh Bamkar, a PG aspirant.

According to a notification on the DMER website, the date for display of final vacancies available for personal counseling was July 28, 2013.

However, the dates were cancelled, since final verdict on round 4 is still pending.

The specially constituted Medical Counseling Committee had announced that the seats will be transferred to state quota only after the Supreme Court verdict, which is likely to be announced on Tuesday.

"We are still waiting for the verdict and so our earlier time tables have been cancelled.

It’s a policy issue and it will be clear only after we hear from the Supreme Court, said Dr. Pravin Shingare, Director, DMER.

The transfer of seats from All India Quota allows students a higher state rank and prospects of getting a seat become brighter.

“The legal hassles surrounding medical admissions have become a real problem. The dearth of PG seats makes the situation worse," said Bamkar.

The campaign, which started in Bengaluru, will also works towards including the one year compulsory rural posting, without which graduate doctors cannot apply for a post graduate degree, as a part of the internship period.

“By having a separate year for rural postings, the education period of doctors is extended by another year. We want the government to include it as a part of the internship programmes,” said Dr. Shetty.