Srinagar: Aspirants for undergraduate medical and dental courses from Jammu and Kashmir will compete for over 1300 MBBS and BDS seats in J&K colleges. The NEET-UG will be held across multiple centers in the UT tomorrow.
The MBBS and BDS intake capacity in J&K is set to see a major fillip with three new medical colleges being permitted to admit students this year.
GMC Handwara, GMC Udhampur and AIIMS Kashmir are eying their first batch of students in the upcoming academic session, albeit in a transit campus.
An official in health and medical education department said that work on AIIMS Kashmir, coming up at Awantipora was delayed but is catching pace.
Similarly, make shift arrangements for GMC Udhampur and GMC Handwara campuses had been made already. The three institutions are set to push the intake capacity for MBBS students in J&K up by 300.
Tomorrow, aspirants will appear in NEET – UG exam across multiple centers in J&K. The exam is being held across the country every year by National Testing Agency (NTA) on the same day and pattern and is the entry level for admission to MBBS, BDS and other colleges, varying from state to state.
Secretary J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE), Dr Firdous Giri told Greater Kashmir that the seat matrix is expected to include seats at GMC Handwara and GMC Udhampur this year.
“The seat matrix will be prepared in due course of time and the two new GMCs have communicated their readiness. We are yet to receive official communication from them,” he said.
In J&K, many AYUSH colleges also fill their seats through NEET exam only. In the past academic year, J&K had over 1100 MBBS and BDS seats, apart from the intake capacity of AIIMS Samba, which was 50 seats.
Earlier, this week, Chief Secretary J&K, Arun Kumar Mehta said that the two new medical colleges will be made functional this year.
He also said that the work on AIIMS Samba Vijaypur and AIIMS Awantipora were nearing completion. In a review meeting, it was said that with the five New Medical Colleges in Phase-I, the intake capacity of MBBS seats in the UT has increased from 500 to 1100 seats annually. These new medical colleges include GMC Baramulla, GMC Anantnag, GMC Kathua, GMC Doda and GMC Rajouri.
The Government has said that the intake capacity is “expected to further increase to 1300 MBBS seats this year with the start of academic session in GMC Udhampur and Handwara sanctioned under Phase-III of Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Establishment of Medical Colleges”.
It said that the Letter of Permission (LoP) had been received in favour of GMC Udhampur and Handwara for 100 MBBS seats each recently from the National Medical Commission. “Additionally, two new AIIMS at Vijaypur and Awantipora shall add another 200 MBBS seats.”