In a bid to increase the number of specialist doctors, government medical colleges of the state have requested the Medical Council of India to allow them replace diploma seats with MD/MS courses.
Last year, the MCI announced that the existing PG diploma seats in medical colleges of India will be done away with, and instead, MD/MS courses will be started in their place.
On January 18, the Union ministry of health and family welfare issued a public notice seeking application from medical colleges across India as a last chance to avail the scheme.
Currently, in J&K, there are 55 diploma seats, 21 in Government Medical College Srinagar, 33 in GMC Jammu and one in SKIMS Soura.
The GMC Srinagar has applied for conversion of 12 gynecology and obstetrics, six anesthesia, two dermatology and one ophthalmology seats, an official said.
He added that currently two senior level officials from the medical college had been deputed to New Delhi to “ensure conversion”.
Prof Samia Rashid, principal GMC Srinagar, said the college had completed formalities “well in time”.
“We are otherwise also very well placed in terms of ensuring seat increase,” she said.
Similarly, in GMC Jammu, an official said that 33 diploma seats are expected to get converted into postgraduate degree seats. Principal GMC Jammu Prof Sunanda Raina said the college had applied for increase in seats of anesthesia, orthopedics, radio-diagnosis, pediatrics, gynaecology and obstetrics and pathology.
“We are awaiting the MCI decision,” she said.
The original notification for seat conversion had been issued in July last year. The ministry in its latest notification had set 28 January as the cut-off date for permissions. However, no letters of permission have been issued yet.
While the degree seat increase is being anticipated by aspirants of MD/MS in the state, many fear that due to paucity of time, J&K might lose the opportunity. “Our administrators have a habit of doing things at the last minute,” said an aspirant who had recently appeared in NEET PG. He said that the state machinery should have “moved in time so that there was no chance of losing the 55 odd degree seats that could help so many of us” and also lessen state’s specialist shortage.
Last year, J&K had 442 MD/MS seats, in addition to 55 diploma seats. The Union health ministry has taken a slew of measures in the past couple of years to increase the number of postgraduate and undergraduate seats in medical colleges to deal with the issue of lopsided doctor-patient ratio. Last year, due to the changed teacher-student ratio permitted by the MCI, GMC Srinagar secured an increase of 33 MD/MS seats while GMC Jammu got an increase of 15 seats.